Tonbo
by AlwaysEatTheRude21
Summary: Hari Potter knew loss and pain intimately. Despite this, nothing could have prepared her for the loss of Sirius. Crouched on the onyx flooring of the M.O.M, Hari snaps and the truth buried long ago comes sizzling to the surface. The only fact she knew was she would find her family. She swore it... Itachi/Fem!Harry/Sasuke (Uchihacest!)
1. Dragonfly

Hari Potter knew loss and pain intimately. She knew the weight of it bearing down on her thin shoulders, pushing her down and down and down until she felt like the earth itself was swallowing her whole. She knew the bitter taste of unsung goodbyes it left on your tongue, like residue that would not wash away no matter how hard or fast you scrubbed and bleached. She knew the ache it wrought your muscles with, the clamp and twist a hurting heart bent and mutilated itself into. She knew all too well the echoes of silence that would ring your ears and imprint on your mind, leaving you alone even if you were standing in a filled room.

Despite all this, she could have never been ready for the absolution of loss and hurt that crashed upon her when Sirius Black slipped through her reaching palm and drifted into the Vale like a wisp of smoke on a summers breeze. His death, that smile etched on his lips, showing knowledge that he knew exactly what was going on, a calm, painless and peaceful death many would say, was in complete opposition to her own tempestuous and storming emotions.

 _She had burned._

The rest of the fight, the order and death-eaters going at each other's throats like dogs, clawing and howling for blood seemed nothing more than a soundtrack to her sorrow, like a T.V being left to play in the background simply for noise and nothing more. It all took back seat to the pain that washed through her as he drifted away, as Remus Lupin wrangled and wrestled her away from the towering carved stone arch, pinning her arms to her sides, barring her flailing legs as she fought to get free, denying her the urge to follow, to fight, to jump in, grab him and bring Sirius back to brilliant life.

She remembered crying, she remembered screaming, she remembered cornering a laughing Bellatrix, she remembered Voldemort's appearance, like snap shots taken from a shaking photographer until all she could picture was coloured blurs and smudged faces. None of it had mattered at the time, none of it had registered when locked in a loop her mind had created of Sirius's death, the only thing her tormenting mind could bring to clarity or even partially focus on. He was there, silken waistcoat brushing her fingertips only to fall too short, gone, slipping away. He was gone, with one spell, one word, one tumble, one too late outstretched hand, he had followed death into its eternal grip.

 _Her eyes had burned._

Hari had gotten used to that feeling, the feeling of something not quite right fogging her eyes, like sunglasses she had not known she was wearing having been taken off her eyes too fast, painting the world in vivid hues, too bright to be anything but the product of being in the throes of extreme emotion, being able to see things she shouldn't be able to see, sights nobody should be able to see, sight honed and sharper than possible, things, people, everything moving too slowly, moving strangely, as if watching rain falling upwards, back into the dark heavy clouds they had descended from.

She had felt it, that fire in her eyes, the first time Vernon had raised a meaty fist to her, coming in for a second blow only for him to jar to a halt as she glared up at him in defiance, as if frozen, purple and red in his flabby and overly puffed face. If her jaw hadn't have hurt as much as it had then, she was sure she would have appreciated the flicker of horror on his face more than she probably should have.

He had retreated that time, exchanging hushed words with her Aunt Petunia in the corner of the room, casting slanted gazes towards her, mumbling about priests and orphanages. It had stopped the beatings for awhile, a good long while in all honesty, until he had obviously gotten over the fear of what had caused it in the first place, after all, what could frighten a raging fully grown man away from a malnourished six-year-old? Hari did not know, but she hadn't questioned it either, only thankful for the month respite it had given her. And if it happened again, if her eyes had burned the way they had before when Vernon got Handsy in his parenting, then he didn't back down and away again, it simply made him angrier, made the blows harder, the time she was locked in her cupboard longer, until eventually, when she felt that flame flicker in her eyes, she came to hate it.

She had felt it when she first got her Hogwarts letter, that anticipation and excitement bubbling up in her veins as she released that maybe, just maybe, she did have somewhere out there where she belonged. She had felt it when she played quidditch, high in the air, midnight curls flying out behind her, adrenalin pumping through her as she locked sight with the snitch. She had felt it when learning of Sirius's escape from Azkaban, back when she had believed he was a mass-murdering psychopath and wanted nothing more but to see the man hang for his crimes.

She had felt it when being chased by werewolves in the forbidden forest, sure death himself was nipping at her heels, pushing her faster and harder than she had ever ran before, darting between bramble bushes and trees. She had felt it when Dudley and his moronic group of followers played Hari-Hunting, all until she grew too fast for them, too sneaky to be caught. She had felt it when she had seen Cedric Diggory die right in front of her, Voldemort's own gaze locking onto hers in what could only be wonderment as something sparked his interest and subsequent taunting over her comrades death. She had felt it alright, multiple times.

 _But... She had never seen it._

She supposed that was the funny thing about eyes. They were meant to be a persons best feature, they were meant to flash and play emotions out for the world to see, yet, hardly anyone ever saw their own eyes in action. That was, for Hari, until that point in time, that fateful turn in destiny that was brought on by witnessing the death of a loved one. Under the unbearable heat of loss and pain, sprawled on the cold, onyx flooring of the Ministry of Magic, glass raining down around her hunched form from Dumbledore's and Voldemort's showdown, Hari's eyes had positively _blazed_. This time, unlike all the others, it hurt. It simmered like hot coals in her eye-sockets, like her eyes had been set alight with gasoline. Agony.

Face scrunched, fist's planted on the slabs of frigid stone, Hari thought the thick, boiling hot tracks of fluid that were dripping down her face were tears, that was until one lone drop fell onto her fist, too thick to be salt water, too hot to be tears. Opening her eyes, the first and only thing she could see was red. Poignant red drop on her hand, starkly contrasting against the ivory of her skin. Then... Then she saw her distorted reflection on the polished onyx and was hit with that singular colour again.

It wasn't tears pouring down her cheeks, dripping onto the floor into a puddle, no. It was blood. Her blood. She was crying blood. Then she saw her eyes. Gone was the Avada green she had become renowned for, replaced with that same rustic, vibrant red that was currently dribbling down her chin. Although, that wasn't all. Something black, a pattern, odd and swirling, linked like a Kaleidoscope was swirling, twirling, dancing in the vermilion depths. Her heart pounded, thudded, ricocheting off the cage of her ribs, picking up the bass in the drums of her ears and all she could think and see was one word. _Blood._ Then Voldemort's voice rang out over the twinkling of falling glass and frantic shouts of battling order members and death-eaters.

"Hari Potter.."

Her neck cracked with the speed in which her face swivelled to his direction. Eyes wide and open, staring, Vermilion clashing against Scarlett. The heat flared out of her eyes, smouldering her skin, scarring her. Then the flames came, bursting to life around them, licking at them, eating and marring everywhere she looked, everywhere her pupils focused on.

 _Black flames._

They say eyes are the window to the soul, her soul must have been made out of hell-fire, pain and blood. She didn't remember much, not much at all. She heard screams, she remembered Voldemort's face, for once showing something other than contempt and malice. _Fear._ The look suited the snake faced bastard better than any she had previously seen him adorn. She remembered the roar of the flames. Then nothing. Blackness. Voids. Blank.

 _Just like Sirius... Gone._

* * *

 _~THREE DAYS LATER~_

When Hari awoke, she felt the stiff linen under her, rough and overly starched sheets draped over her prone body, the quiet swoosh of an open curtain when a soft wind breezed through, ruffling her bed-riddled hair. She blinked owlishly, swearing her eyes were open but still saw nothing, something tight wrapped around her face.

In a moment of unabashed panic, thinking she had gone blind, Hari had scuttled up the bed to a sitting position, clawing at her face with shaking hands, nails dragging against the fabric that was wound around her eyes tightly until another pair of hands, old ones, withered and aged, tugged hers away, a voice, not one belonging to the hands rang out, rushed but placating, trying to calm her and her agitated movements. She knew that voice, had heard it every day since her arrival at Hogwarts, her friend. Hermione.

"Hari! Hari stop, you're fine! We're in Hogwarts! You're safe!"

Hari's breath came in staggered huffs, even as her fingers lost their frantic tugging and pulling, the other pair of hands fading from her limited world of touch, sound and darkness. Even before he spoke, she knew whose those hands belonged to, knew only one with a grip so tight yet deceivingly gentle.

 _Dumbledore._

"Miss Granger, why don't you head back to lessons, you've missed quite a lot and I wish to have a private word with miss Potter here. I'm sure you two can catch up at dinner."

Hermione must have nodded, the sound of fabric ruffling ringing out as Hermione bent down to pick up her bag, Hari guessed, though, she must have stalled a bit, looking back a few times before the click of a door snapped through the air, as loud as a bullet. Hari sat up straighter with shaking limbs, yanking the thin cotton sheet away from her legs as she swung them over the edge, never letting them drop to the floor though, ending up perching on the edge of the bed as her fingers wrangled into the sheet, twisting and twirling into the cloth, clinging to a life line, grounding her to the present and not what her mind kept trying to show her.

When she had first awoken, she had thought it was all a giant misunderstanding, a dream, a nightmare. However, faced with the silence, the churning in her gut, the tension that smothered the atmosphere, she was pounded with the honesty of it all. Sirius was gone. Dead. Her voice was broken and gruff from restrained emotions when she finally did speak.

"He's gone isn't he? Sirius is... He's gone... He's dead."

Her fingers twisted in tighter, despite not being able to see through the think gauze covering her eyes, they screwed shut anyway, trying to shut out the truth her mind was blaring at her. Perhaps, if she told herself Sirius was alive enough, her will would make it so. She felt the hand, warm and large, a map of wrinkles and untold stories land on her shoulder. She tore herself away from the offered comfort with a harsh jerk of her shoulder. She felt the warmth of the hand hover for a moment or two, before leaving all together. Leaving her to the cold, bereft void she had awoken to.

"I'm afraid so, but that is not the sole reason for our talk. There are more... Pressing matters to attend to first. Hari... Hari, what do you remember before you lost conciousness?"

Hari scoffed, turning her head away from the direction the voice came from. Pressing matters? Was Sirius's death not pressing? If not, then why did she feel like the loss would crush her? She didn't want to be here, she didn't want any of this. She never wanted any of this. Her family, Sirius, the last tie she had to her family, a family and happy home, was gone, gone because she had been foolish. A ripping shattered the silence, the fabric in her unforgiving hands finally having given way to her fingers and grip.

"I don't know. It all seems like a dream. I remember Sirius falli-... I remember crying. Then... Blood. Blood and fire... But the flames... They weren't right. They were wrong, they were-"

"Black."

Harry gave a jolted nod, the memories in her mind nothing but a broken and static filled silent movie. It gave her vertigo, made her queasy with just the knowledge that her tormented mind, her grief had not conjured it up like she had hoped it had. She heard the tap, tap, tap of Dumbledore walking, stopping somewhere in front of her, baring down upon her with his inescapable presence.

She just wanted to be left alone.

"Have you ever felt like you did then? Mayhaps not the same level, but have you ever... Felt different? Your eyes, have they ever felt similar to what they did then?"

Hari wanted to tell him to fuck off. To back away. To leave her alone. All she wanted to do was rest... She was so tired. She had been tired for a while now, that kind of tired that seeped into your bones and slowed all movement, all thought. Everything felt sluggish. Maybe that was why she felt no need to fight Dumbledore on his questions, why she answered them in monotone. She felt so disconnected from everything, from everyone. Cold and numb. She just wanted to sleep and pretend none of this had happened. In dreams, she could escape the horrors of her reality.

"Sometimes. It comes and goes. It normally happens when I get too emotional, too happy or sad or hurt... But never like that, there was never those flames, just the same feeling, like my eyes have opened for the first time. It's like I'm seeing truly for the first time, like I'm a newborn staring at the world."

It was odd to explain it, difficult to say the right words that adequately described the feeling and even the ones she had chosen fell short. Hari had never been brilliant with words, she normally fell back on sarcasm and dry wit, but she was tired. For once, she didn't want to know the answers, didn't want to know how or why she had done what she had done. She didn't care. How could she? How could she focus on such drivel when Sirius, wonder-struck and dimpled Sirius was gone, forever and a day away from her? She couldn't. She didn't want to.

"I thought so. Hari, let me tell you a story."

The bed at the side of her dipped, telling her Dumbledore had sat down. She could faintly hear the tweet of a bird singing its song to the sky and the twitching smell of lemon drops that always accompanied Dumbldore's presence. She knew where she was, from the creaking of the iron cot, the stiff fabric, the hospital gown she was in, it didn't take two guesses to point out it must have been Hogwarts hospital wing, not when the stinging smell of Skele-Gro drifted up her nostrils and clung there like sweet bleach. Dumbledore once again shattered the silence and peace Hari was trying to wrap around her like a well-loved cloak.

"There is this nation, I believe they call themselves the Elemental countries, just off from Japan, hidden from the rest of the world. They're a lot like us in many ways, so much so that one could surely live in either world and find not too many obstacles or differences between what we can do and what they can. We met once, thousands of years ago, our race and their's still in their infancy... But jealousies and petty gripes tore us apart. We were jealous of their lack of relying on wands to aid them and they were greedy to know about our extended life spans. Without saying, it ended with both races laying an excommunication against the other and baring all contact. It... It wasn't a pleasant goodbye Hari, not from either sides."

Her gut sank as if a cannon ball had been shoved down her throat, acid and bile climbing up her esophagus and strangling her. She knew Dumbledore, better than most she would say. He was just as much a viper as Tom Riddle was. Instead of coveting immortality, Dumbledore hoarded knowledge. He didn't part with it easily or willingly, only giving you snit-bits when the need absolutely called for it, and even then it was only crumbs, nothing more, always just enough to tide you along to do his bidding. To have Dumbledore sitting by her, telling her this... It didn't bode well. It meant it was instrumentally important and had something to do with her... Hari almost laughed. When did it not have anything to do with her? She could not stop the humourless chuckle from breaking free, even as she spoke.

"This isn't a just a story is it?"

She felt more than heard Dumbledore's heavy sigh. No. This did not bode well at all. But she was tired of being in the dark, left to feel her way around only to fall through a trap door, yet, she didn't want to know either. It was all too much, too soon, she was so very tired. If Dumbledore had just told her of the prophecy, Sirius wouldn't be dead. If he had just told her many numerous things, so many disasters and lost lives could have been diverted. But he didn't, Dumbledore never will or would tell her the full truth. She didn't think he had it in him. Long gone was when Hari saw Dumbledore through rose tinted glasses, now she saw the man underneath, the man who was as flawed and broken as the rest of them. A man who had lived through three wizarding wars and had been shaped and moulded by them. A survivor. However, sometimes, being a survivor did not equate to being a good person. Funny, the one time she was blind, eyes covered from the world, was the only time she was actually seeing straight. Irony was a bitch.

"No. You see Hari, in short, in these countries, there is a clan... A family if you will. They're called the Uchiha. In particular, there was one family. A mother, a father, a son and a set of twins, a brother and sister. I was travelling at the time, incognito of course, our two worlds are still not on speaking terms so to speak. I was trying to find resources for the upcoming war against Tom and hoped to find the answer where no witch or wizard dared to venture. The family seemed to be a happy one. But the youngest, the girl, she had eyes of green, it stood out against her family, so similar to another young witch I knew, it caught my eye-"

She was going to be sick as the cannon ball dropped in her gut and tore through her intestines, spinning her world on its head. If what she was reading between the lines were to believed, you had to read between the lines when Dumbledore was involved to get anywhere, everything she had ever known, everything she would have sworn black and blue to be truth seconds prior... Was a lie. Her life, her family, herself... It was all a lie.

Despite her lack of sight, the blackness swam around her like an oil filled ocean, the bed beneath her disappearing leaving her to free fall. Lie after lie after hidden truth. When did it end? Hari felt like it never would. Was she just a weapon? Something to pick up when needed and thrown to the dirt and bugs when her usefulness ran out? Her words were like broken glass when she spoke, sharp, reflective, jagged.

"The girl... That girl... It was me wasn't it?"

Silence reigned supreme for heart pounding seconds, a lifetime, Hari couldn't tell how long it had been before Dumbledore regretfully broke it, tone even and calm, hiding the pain underneath. Her pain. This time, when something hot and moist trailed down her cheek, breaking through the gauze wall, Hari had no doubt it was a tear.

"Yes, Hari. Desperate times call for desperate measures and I'll admit, at the time, I was a very desperate man."

 _Desperate times call for desperate measures..._ Something shattered and broke to the side of them, a vase by the sound of it, a result of her lashing out magic. Or was it even magic? If what Dumbledore was telling her to be fact, which it likely was, then she was no witch, no Potter... She didn't belong. She didn't belong here, in this castle, in this world, in this place, with these people who kept taking and taking and never giving back.

 _She had never felt so alone._

"So... You took me. Why... Why would you do such a thing?"

 _Why did you leave me on this path littered with loss and dead bodies?_ Why was he telling her this now? No. She knew why to that question. He had no other option, not after what had gone down in the bowels of the Ministry of Magic. Dumbledore had been backed into a corner and only then had he come somewhat clean, no doubt he was leaving things out, he always did. What she did... Those black flames... Did that mean her family could do that? Was it a family trait? Like the Snape's with their excellence at potions, the Longbottom's with herbology, the Lovegood's and their devination? Hari's idle wanderings were cut short by Dumbledore's voice, unfortunately, with every word that passed his lips, it only angered her further.

"We... You heard the prophecy didn't you Hari? After some investigation, I found the twins fell into its boundaries. Born as the seventh month dies... I thought if there was more than one child born as the seventh month dies, not just Neville, Tom would not act. It would confuse him, give us enough time to plan a counterstrike. Lily and James Potter had come to me with their own troubles, Lily was infertile you see, all they had wanted most was to start a family, so a family is what I gave them. As I've said, it would be almost impossible for anyone to tell the difference. I thought from the sorrow of one family, two could be saved, the Longbottoms and the Potters... It has been one of my many mistakes, and for that, I am sorry."

Hari loathed that single word. Sorry. Sorry fixed nothing. Changed nothing. It made nothing easier. It healed no wounds, physical, emotional or mental. Hari would have preferred him holding his hands up and saying my bad.

"Sorry doesn't change anything. It doesn't give me a chance for a family... A family you and Tom have stolen from me twice. It doesn't bring Sirius back... The power Voldemort knows not, It's my eyes, isn't it? That's why you took me. Not because they are green, not for Lily and James, not for the Longbottoms, but for what they can do."

The answer shattered what little self-esteem, hope, a dream of a future of being just Hari and not the girl who lived, or the saviour or any other redundant titles strangers threw upon her world-weary shoulders.

"If that is what makes this easier for you, then yes, Hari. I took you for your eyes."

To be whittled down to a body part, her importance, her life, her usefulness, to have that all laid down on one singular part of herself, a genetic trait at that, it was degrading, in-humanising, hurtful. If they wanted them that bad, if all her worth laid in her eyes, if it stopped anyone else from needlessly dying, she would gauge them out and give them to them... If only to have a family.

But... She had a family.

Dumbledore had not told her they were dead, he would have if that had been factual. They could still be out there, living, happy, laughing and joking. All she had ever wanted, all she had ever dreamed about in her cubby hole, it was out there, at her fingertips. Sirius was gone, Lily and James too, but she had family out there, blood out there, waiting. Vertigo hit her all at once again. Dumbledore may have taken that from her, but it wasn't gone, it wasn't out of her reach. She could get it back.

Family... Hari had a family.

But she couldn't get to them. Not now. Maybe not ever if she died by the wand point of Voldemort. But the hope, the dream, it was there, flickering in the wind like a candle. If she lived through this, if she survived, she could find them. Still, the pain of knowing that could all be nothing more than a dream, never to become a reality, it hurt that much more than if she had thought them all to be dead. Bitter, Hari snarled at Dumbledore. She was nothing but another trinket to stash away in his office. Nothing but a chess piece on his board.

"You're just like him, you know? You're just like Tom and you can't even see it... I hate you... I hate you so much. "

The hand landed on her shoulder once more and this time Hari didn't fight it, couldn't garner up the strength to. Dumbledore was calm when he spoke, brutal in all his honesty, and oddly, Hari was thankful for the words he said next.

"I know you do Hari. I wouldn't expect anything less."

His hand slipped from her shoulder like a tablecloth from a table and Hari was left in the abyss that was trying to swallow her whole. She felt weak, like a kitten, shaky and gangly limbed still learning to walk. The problem was she couldn't be weak, not now, not ever. If she was going to survive this, as much as it hurt her to say it, she needed Dumbledore and his little tokens of information. Of course, he likely knew that too and was one of the reasons he had thought to tell her the truth now rather than before.

"That's why some things don't come to me, isn't it? And why others come easier? Why every time I use a wand, it feels so wrong I could be sick? You... You tore me out of my own home, away from my family, from my own world to fix your own. I don't know who is worse, you or Tom, at least he is honest about who and what he is."

Dumbledore chuckled, lacking all humour and warmth, derision aimed at himself. Hari wanted nothing more to never hear from the man again, but she couldn't, she was as trapped in this course as the earth's orbit around the sun. Dumbledore, Voldemort, fucking fate and destiny had done that. She would play her part in the dance others had constructed for her, she had no other path to walk but this one. But by Merlin almighty himself, if she was alive at the end of this, her life would finally be her _own._ No Voldemort. No wars. No Dumbledore. No manipulations.

"I never claimed to be a good man Hari. I do what I must for my people. I will pay for my vast mistakes, for that I am sure. Your differences Hari will be what saves us, it will be what finally brings down Voldemort, what you did at the ministry only proved that."

Hari scoffed but it came out more like a growl from some wild beast that haunted the forbidden forest. Her fingers were cramping from the pressure being pumped into them, the skin taut over knuckle and bone, white like porcelain.

"So what? I fight your war, the one you thrust me into, and if... If I survive I get to skip off into the rainbow?"

This time Dumbledore patted her back as if she was some puppy about to retrieve a treat for being a good little girl. Hari wanted to bite his Merlin damned hand clean off. But it wasn't just Dumbledore's war, neither was it just Voldemort's and the death-eaters. It had been Sirius's, it was Remus's, it had been Lily's and James's. For them, for Sirius, she would carry on. She couldn't... Wouldn't let him die in vain, not when it was her fault he had died in the first place, due to her foolhardy and headstrong nature. For him, she would have walked to the ends of the world.

"You'll live Hari, I have every faith in you."

Hari's answer was muted, nothing but an exhale of breath.

"You're the only one..."

Yet, it wasn't just the fallen one's war either. Hermione, Ron, Neville, Luna, they would all be swept up into it too if Hari didn't act. Even if she did act, they could die, some will die, that was the way of war but if she sat out, if she ran off to find a family that could have very well forgotten her, she could never live with herself, knowing she had turned her back on those few who meant so much to her.

After all, these Uchiha was it? She had been gone fourteen years, what was a few more on top of that?

"Fine. I'll fight. Not for you or Voldemort or anyone else, but for my friends, for the few loved ones I have left. For the hope I still have left that one day I'll find peace."

She would fight for a dream. For a hope. It was the only thing she had left, the only thing that would keep her going after the loss of Sirius. For Hermione, for Ron, for a chance at finally finding and holding that one elusive thing that had been denied her since she could remember.

 _A Family._

"You have a goodness in you Hari that is almost blinding... It's been a tiring day, have some rest, those bandages should come off in a week or so. Goodnight Miss Potter. One last gift, here, take it. It was the only thing I took that night I also took you."

Hari could hear Dumbledore come to a stand, the sound of his long robes swishing on the stone flooring. Then something was fluttering into her lap, forcing her to let go of her sheets, her fingers tingling at the release of pressure to grab a hold of the object. It was thick, glossy on one side and rectangular. A Photo. Her fingers nearly tore into the paper when that pressure in her limbs came slamming back into her muscles. She heard the tap of Dumbledore retreating steps, slowly fading but before he could go Hari's tongue acted on its own and she shouted at his back.

"I'll find them!"

The absence of sound told her he had stopped in his tracks, so Hari carried on, soldiered on. After all, that was what she was best at, wasn't it?

"I'll find them... The family you took me away from? I'll find them. When all this is said and done, if I still have breath in my lungs, I'll find them. My brothers, my mother, my father, I'll find them all."

Hari heard no laughter but she could hear the jovial twist in his tone, the happiness leaking from his words like nectar from a flower. Dumbledore was not inherently bad, no, he just did what he thought he must. He was born and wrung from three wars, living through that, it had hardened him, turned him cold in some respects, but not evil, not like Tom Riddle. To a man like Dumbledore, nothing was above for the greater good. He was no hero, just a human and like all humans, Hari included, they had flaws.

"I'm sure you will Hari."

The click of the door shutting resonated through her skull, ringing like a church bell, whether shouting a birth or a funeral, Hari couldn't tell. It felt ominous all the same, like a nail being driven into her coffin. After a few moments of silence, Hari jumped into action, tearing off the bandage wrapped around her eyes, blearily blinking as she looked at the photo in her hand.

It was a pretty picture to be sure, a happy one with cursive writing at the bottom, five names proudly boasting the inhabitants, her name last in the line up, startling her when it was paired with a name not Potter but Uchiha.

 _Hari Uchiha._

A man and a woman, the man stern but with a twinkle in his eye that spoke of hidden merriment, the woman nothing but smiles. At their legs stood a boy, his mother's features prominent but his father's stern facial expression and colouring just as potent. In the woman's arms lay a bundle wrapped in jewel blue, almost a mirror image of her with her ebony blue hair and dark eyes, a trait the whole family possessed but one, a chubby thing with a gummy smile and flushed cheeks. Almost in a polarizing position was the last member of the family, wrapped in red cloth, thick ebony curls, the only one to have curls it seemed, the same colour as the woman's blue/black peeking out, same chubby and toothless smile and rosy cheeks but eyes the shade of spring green, safely held in the father's arms, one arm free from the cloth prison and reaching for the camera with what looked like a frozen giggle.

Her. This was her and her family. They looked happy, even the stern little boy standing in front of the couple could not hide the upturn to the edge of his lips. You could tell just by looking at them they were related, and even grown up and in the cusp of adult-hood, given the photo of the woman, Hari was almost her mirror image all apart from her eyes and rambunctious curls... It was almost eery. No. Not almost. It was down right chilling.

The truth hit home, the loss of Sirius still aching, her world disintegrating around her, Hari let out a cry that sounded more like a war shout than anything else as she crumpled in on herself, clutching at the picture. The picture showed everything she had ever wanted, all she had ever hoped for... All that had been stripped away from her because she was born on a certain day. Hari slid off the bed, knees whacking unforgiving on the stone mason flooring, crying as the picture pressed closer to her breast and pounding heart.

For the first time in a long time, since the first time Vernon had locked her in that cupboard for 'miss behaving' Hari sobbed until she heaved. She had a family. A family she could not find until Voldemort was dead and gone or she was, she couldn't drag them into this war, couldn't risk them after only just finding out she had a chance at a family. They would be prime target if Voldemort ever found out. It felt as if you had put a glass of water in front of a desert survivor, telling them not to drink it. But that didn't change anything, didn't change that she had a family out there, somewhere.

That spark of hope turned to a full blaze in her sternum as her sobs eased and spluttered to a messy stop. A family she would one day find. She promised herself that, come death, hell-fire, high water, Voldemort's army, she would find them. She swore it.

As the breeze picked up, fluttering the hospital wings curtains, as a little dragonfly sizzled passed the window, perching on it's pane, Hari could have sworn she heard a word carried to her through the wind and wings of the bejewelled dragonfly.

 _...Tonbo..._

* * *

 ** _T_**

This is a sort of companion piece to my other fanfic, Windows to the soul. You see, I did a poll and the pairings (Top two,) came neck and neck at a whopping 261 votes each! So, instead of just picking one and ditching the other, I thought I would simply do two fics. As the chapters build up, the plots will start to diverge and even in this chapter, there is differences from the other until eventually it will be two completly different stories. In short, this is the pairings for each fic:

 **Windows to the soul- Kakashi/Hari**

 **Tonbo- Itachi/Hari/Sasuke**

 **(Which means Uchihacest** **people! As in this fic Hari is an Uchiha, so if that turns you off, leave now! I repeat, abort! abort! Count this as fair warning!)**

If you read windows to the soul, don't worry, I'm working on this until I reach the same point as windows to the soul and then both will be updated weekly, so a new chapter should be very soon! I've recently just got over a bad case of pneumonia, and well, I've been really sick. However, I'm well now and hopefully everything, updates and all, will return to normal.

If you have a spare moment, be a star and drop a review, they make my day and also get the chapters out faster!

Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read my mad musings and I hope you enjoyed it. Until next time, stay beautiful!- _AlwaysEatTheRude21_


	2. Flashes part 1

_~Aggressive~_

Dumbledore was dead, spelled off the astronomy tower by a man he had trusted, a man they had all trusted, no matter how dubiously balanced that trust was in some people. Even through the years Hari had known Snape, how ever ready she was to point her finger and accuse him, she had never dreamed he would be the one to kill Albus Dumbledore. Yet, here they were, the order in shambles from a great loss, people mourning left right and centre, lost, confused, shut out in the cold. No matter what Dumbledore was, manipulator or saviour, light or dark, liar or cheat, you could always count on a plan that had formed in his brilliant mind. His death had taken his strategies with him and they were left to scramble in the dark.

Unfortunately, that wasn't all that he had taken with him in his shattering plummet back down to earth. With him, all her hopes of trying to get stronger through her heritage, the knowledge she needed to defeat Voldemort, stories of where she came from, who she came from and exactly what she could do had splintered and splattered onto the floor like he had, leaving behind nothing but a mess for others to clean up.

In the months following Hari's big revelation, Dumbledore had avoided everything to do with the Uchiha, Elemental nations or teaching Hari how to become stronger since he had walked out of the hospital wing that fateful day, no matter how hard she had pushed and prodded to find out more. Perhaps he was scared if she knew she would run off, find her family, Merlin knows, especially now, facing their final hours, she was tempted. Beyond tempted.

In the hushed hours of midnight, when the moon was high, Hari found herself itchy, twitchy, staring at her trunk in the dark, picturing herself dashing around her Gryffindor communal room, stashing things away and leaving in the middle of the night to this almost mythical Elemental nations like some ghost. Here one moment, at peace the next. And then she would blink, see Hermione's face on her clenched lids, see Luna's, see Neville's, see Ron's and the Weasley's, hear the phantom of Tom riddle shout in her hear in that putrid, slimy voice of his and see the flash of green, so bright she would jerk her eyes wide, scan the room, wand ready in her hand, sure as sure can be that he was there, firing off the Avada curse at the people she loved. In truth, it was the only thing that stopped her from leaving, that knowledge that if she ran, if she tried to, they would be the ones to pay the price. Even if she ran, found her family, he would eventually follow, whether it be a week from then or years. He. Would. Follow.

 _He always followed._

So, that left her with one option, as great and substantial as it was. She would have to defeat him. However, If she ever actually hoped to defeat Voldemort, she at least needed to know how to use the eyes she had been kidnapped for in the first place. Surely, that was common curtsey in an abduction? Dumbledore had sworn her to secrecy though, likely due to the still, according to him, prominent hostilities between the two races, stopping her from asking anyone else for help, a location, a book, anything, only to die before he could tell or teach her anything personally. She was in this alone, she would have to figure it out herself, she would have only herself to rely upon. What was any different than before?

Hari had never felt such unadulterated rage towards someone before, but yet again, Dumbledore had never been a man of half measures.

* * *

 _~Agonized~_

Hari huffed and puffed as she pushed herself as far as she could into the brick wall at her back, the mid day rain that had moistened the rocks now seeping into her cloak and thin T-Shirt, leaving a chilling trail up her spine. She had been trying her hardest to blend in, holding her breath as she peeked out and around the corner, watching as snarling Snatchers and ministry officials ran passed, wands out and ready, cunning eyes scanning, looking, seeking... Searching for her... Hunting her as if she was some rabid dog to be put down.

She supposed that was what happened when you became undesirable number one. People, as a whole, were fickle things. Turn cloaks, easy to persuade, they see one article printed in a known propaganda machine, one whisper in the ear and then you were Satan incarnate. She should have been more pissed, if she didn't really care for them either, or had more worrying things to think and act about like her approaching death.

It had been a gamble to come here, now of all times, no one else accompanying her, alone, vulnerable. One risk she would've paid for with her life if things had have gone wrong, which there had been a prominent chance it would end that way, especially being in Knockturn alley, a dark spot for dark witches and wizards if there ever was one, and her face printed on posters practically everywhere one could look.

Nevertheless, in the end, the book she had stolen from Borgin and Burkes, currently hid in the flap of her cloak, her arms protectively wrapped around it like iron chains, daring someone, anyone to take it from her, was well worth the seeping wound on her right thigh, oozing blood from a well-aimed slicing hex, agonizing and blazing with each crooked limp she took.

No doubt, when she arrived at the Burrow, to get ready for Bill's and Fleur's wedding in three weeks time, Molly would have her head for such a foolish act. Hopefully, without too much explanation, still having told no-one of her real parents, Hari could weasel her way out of it if she avoided eye contact and kept to three word answers and a grunt thrown in here and there for good measure. No one had to know she had visited Knockturn Alley before going to the Burrow like she had been ordered to.

From all her research, all her fruitless fingering through wizarding book-stores, libraries and shops, everything had come up blank. All apart from this one book collecting dust in the back room of Borgin and Burkes. She could not waste the opportunity that had presented and she highly doubted anyone, including the order members, would risk venturing down this grim and grimy place for her even if she had asked. Only when she was sure the Snatchers were truly gone did she pull the heavy tome out, thumb brushing over the embossed title, the colours faded and flaking from time chipping them away like it did all things, before squirrelling it back away into the imaginary safety of her cloak, limping off towards the floo network and a likely worrying and frantic Molly Weasley.

 _The Shinobi way of life._

* * *

 _~Anxious~_

According to the first chapter of the dishearteningly vague book, the first step to a 'Shinobi' way of life, a word Hari summarised was similar to their warrior, something she would need to be to win this war, was to find out what elements your Chakra, their's... Hers too, equivalent to magic, harmonized with. However, it didn't explain how you were supposed to do that.

 _So was the way of her luck. Two steps forward, one step back._

So, Hari had to come up with her own way, she only hoped she had done it right. Hiding in Ginny's room, the Weasley's downstairs greeting guest's, the first time she was able to break away from the crowd for the last three weeks and have some alone time, Hari gathered up what she hoped would do for her half-baked plan of attack. A lit candle for fire, a feather for wind, a rock for earth and a glass of water for, well, water. Picking them up one by one, she slowly flared her magi-... Chakra, she still had difficulty not calling herself a witch and all that entailed, coming to terms with what she truly was, into the objects and patiently waited for something, anything to happen.

The pebble simple rolled out her hand, likely due to her numb fingers for waiting over half-an-hour to see if anything happened. The water sloshed a little and the anxiousness bubbling in Hari's gut climbed only to simmer down when that was all it did. However, when she picked up the candle and pushed just a little Chakra out, the candle's flame flared so bright and wide it nearly singed her eyebrows off, and when the feather sawed up, dancing across the ceiling, Harry couldn't help but let out a joyful laugh.

"Hari? Are you coming down soon? The ceremony is about to begin!"

Wind and fire... She could work with that. Dusting her hands off, Hari clambered up, shut the big book and hid it under her bed, jogging to the door, readjusting her red dress before slipping out the room with a single glance thrown over her shoulder to her hidden book.

"Just coming Hermione!"

* * *

 _~Apologetic~_

"Where do you think you're going Hari?"

Hari grimaced as the sleepy but anger laced voice of Hermione Granger blustered out from behind her, the one she used right before she clocked you in the face with a two hour lecture, sounding more like a bark from a dog than from a human. She had been hoping to make a quick get-away, no goodbyes, goodbyes were permanent and even if she thought this could be it for her, the end, she didn't want to _feel_ that way. She loathed goodbyes, so she would escape, leave in the dead of the night and pretend everything was alright when, in reality, nothing was and she half believed nothing would ever be that way again. They knew what they needed to look for now, Horcruxes. What was the point of sitting on their haunches and putting off the inevitable? There was no point... There wasn't a point to a lot of things in Hari's life any longer.

The longer Harry put it off, the less she would actually want to go, the longer she would pretend all was merry and well, the world ending at the Burrow's wonky doorstep. But the world didn't end there, and people were getting hurt, dying, and she swore... _Swore_ just before she fell asleep, about to be caught in Morpheus's soft grip, she could hear their screams drumming through her ears like her own stuttering heartbeat. How long before the world came knocking at the Burrow's door? How long before Ron and the Weasley's screams joined those that kept her awake at night? Not long enough. Never long enough.

She could always train and practice while on the run, she just couldn't stomach putting the Weasley's in any more danger than she already had. The disaster that was Bill's and Fleur's wedding had shown her that. Where she was, the death-eaters would follow... Tom would follow. They would always come. He would always come. Just as Hari opened her mouth to answer, another voice, Ron's, rang out from the open doorway she had been originally trying to slip out of.

"Yeah, you really didn't think you would be going anywhere without either me or Hermione, did you? We're in this together mate."

Turning to face him, Hari saw him already in travelling clothes, his and Hermione's satchels plonked at his feet, as if he too had planned to leave this night. Sheepishly, though grinning, Hari scratched the back of her neck. A nervous tick of hers she had never been able to kick.

"Sorry."

Ron chuckled, reaching down to pick up his bag, slinging it over his shoulder as Hermione marched passed Hari to join him in the doorway, whispering on her way passed.

"No need to say sorry Hari, just remember, this isn't just your war. It's ours too. We do this together or not at all."

Hari had never been so thankful for the friends she had. Even if her time was numbered, at least she would spend those precious days with people she loved. What more could she ask for?

 _Too much, yet not enough._

* * *

 _~Arrogant~_

Maybe she had become a little too arrogant in her self-tutoring... Okay, perhaps a lot. She, Hermione and Ron were only a few days into their hunt, having set camp in a none-dispute woods, and Hari had already figured out how to activate her eyes on whim, a long and drawling task that had taken a good amount of time to accomplish, but one she had persevered with a stony will that spoke more of pure stubbornness than anything else, when she came across a page that had caught her eye.

Jutsus where what she guessed was their... Her's too, she had to keep reminding herself she was one of them too, these Shinobi, version of spells. So, when seeing a rather colourful illustration on the opposite of the text, showing a man, battle stance frozen, encased in red, layered armour and wind whipping his long onyx locks behind him, blowing a boulder-sized fireball out his mouth, she may have been too hasty in her eagerness.

Who could blame her? She bet a good few people would pay well to see the snake bastards face melt off. Merlin knows she had dreamt of that very scenario often enough.

Of course, it had ended in tears, many things did these days. Hari had done it, given it was on her seventeenth time in trying, only to miss aim the thing and send it hurling towards their tent. Thankfully, Hermione and Ron were down by the river collecting water. However, they did come back, screaming and worried about already being discovered, only easing in temperament when Hari had sheepishly explained she was practising her incendio and it had gotten out of hand. Hermione was the only one to send her questioning glances afterwards, obviously not buying the excuse Hari had tried to peddle at her.

After that, Hari knew what her problem was. She needed her mindset fixed before trying the bigger things, lest she accidentally save Voldemort the job and charcoal herself.

Luckily for everyone, Hermione had packed an extra tent. Her for-sight was really frightening sometimes.

* * *

 _~Bashful~_

She didn't remember much of the dream she was having, not much at all when Hermione shook her awake, telling Hari it was her time to take watch. However, she did feel bashful, as if Hermione had walked in on her in a very intimate moment. Not physically but emotionally. As if whatever she had been dreaming was something precious to her, something for her heart to squeeze and hold onto and no one else, something she didn't want to share quite yet. If only she could remember more than little snap-shots she could.

Flopping at the base of a gnarled, old tree after exiting the tent, Hari folded her arms around her, barring out the cold gust of wind that was howling around her, mirroring her emotions.

She remembered a boy smiling down at her, long black hair and deep black eyes, extremely tall despite his obvious shortness, as if she was little herself. Tiny in comparison. She remembered a giggle, a weird type of symbol, a red and white thing that resembled a old hand fan blazoned on the wall behind the boy. She remembered the boy making a funny sound, a buzz that made his cheeks puff, waving about in the air, just out of reach of her chubby extended, flexing hands, a wooden toy, colourfully painted in brash blue and jaunty green with fractured multi-glass wings... A dragonfly... A toy dragonfly. Most of all, she remembered the joy she felt as the boy bent down and flicked her nose before picking her up, still making that dragonfly toy dance so amusingly as he carried her from the room, as she... Dream she, giggled and bounced.

In the dead of the night, alone, huddled by a tree, Hari delved a hand into her inner jacket pocket, pulling out a slip of folded paper, gingerly unfolding it. Feeling the weight of the war bearing down upon her, feeling the loneliness creeping into her pores and thoughts, Hari stared down at the photo of a family. _Her_ family. When the emotions got too much, when tears threatened to fall, mindlessly, Hari reached up and flicked her own nose. It didn't feel the same as when the boy in her dream had done it, it felt...

 _Hollow._

* * *

 _~Blissful~_

A month into their Horcrux hunting, Hari had taken to running each morning under the pretence of shaking off anxiety and stress, something to clear her mind, although, that was truth in part. Every day spent on the run felt like another cement brick tied to her feet, dragging her under the current.

The other part was her trying to get faster. According to the book written by some unknown wizard who had visited the Elemental nations when the races had been on speaking terms, Shinobi were able to move at fast speeds without the aid of apparition or brooms.

It became a game of sorts, a routine too, something to keep her balanced and grounded. Every morning she would wake up with Hermione, go for her run as Hermione read from the book Dumbledore had left her, using a small pond six miles away as a halfway point, and when she got back, ask Hermione how long she had been gone. It was simple. It was productive. It worked.

The first day had been a disappointing three hours before she got back, puffing and red in the face. But slowly, ever so slowly, each day, each run, she managed to knock some time off. What was it the book had said?Be not afraid of going slow, be afraid of standing still. Progress was progress.

On that particular sunny morning, a rarity these days, everything always seemed doom and gloom now with deaths grey palette, Hari pushed herself as hard as she could, blocking out everything but the motion of running, the pounding of her feet, the snaps of twigs breaking the whoosh of wind whistling passed her ears. When she made it back to camp, out of breath, hands braced on her knees as she sucked in much-needed oxygen and asked Hermione the fateful question, she could have never guessed the answer.

"How long was I gone Hermione?"

"What do you mean Hari? You only just left two minutes ago."

Hari laughed, despite the bewildered look Hermione shot her way. So that was what bliss felt like. She still ran everyday.

After all, there was always the chance of getting faster.

* * *

 _~Cautious~_

They had the Locket. It should seem like a milestone, another step towards the end, however, all Hari felt was the noose tightening around her neck. The days grew short and the nights long. The reason? They had no idea how to destroy it. The locket was heavy around each of their throats and the cracks in their friendships were beginning to show. The locket was poison, seeping into every insecurity, grudge, quip and indignation, festering it with malice and hatred.

Ron, normally so joyful, loud and exuberant turned sour, snarky and depressive. Each day he would simply sit at the small table they had in their tent, listening to the radio, mumbling and snarling to himself.

Hermione wasn't fairing much better, she was bossy on a good day, now... Now she was downright controlling, derisive and acidic in everything from how much they could and couldn't eat, when to sleep, who did what and her random outburst of rage she aimed at whoever was closest.

Hari hardly had any room to talk. She more often than not found herself staring at the photo she kept hidden and on her always, wondering why she was still here, why she was fighting for these people that wouldn't piss on her if she was on fire, even punching Ron squarely in the jaw one time when he had tried to take a peak. Hermione and Ron couldn't get anything out of her, no nods, no words, they were lucky if they got a grunt.

Hari felt the days of the trio were numbered, the executioner walking to the gallows as they all became cautious around each other, paranoid, distant... Alone.

* * *

 _~Concentrating.~_

Ron was gone... He had left... Sure, the arguments were practically none stop, one always riding on the tails of another. But to leave, after all they had gone through? Even then, hungry, aching, alone, cold, sure her death was imminent, Hari would never abandon Hermione or him.

Now Hermione was crying all the time, never speaking to Hari as if it was somehow her fault the big ginger blood traitor had run home to his mummy. Hari viciously shook her head, curls flying around her. No. That wasn't her thoughts, that was the locket, the damned locket she was staring at, glistening as it laid deceptively innocently on the table between her and Hermione.

Scrubbing at her eyes with tired hands, Hari's thoughts swirled. What good were her eyes if she couldn't use them? Sure, she could activate them now, easily, painlessly, see in that multi-faceted way they allowed her to, but no matter what she tried, that fire never came back. Those black flames never burst to life. Finally snapping, sick of concentrating on things she couldn't control, Hari jolted to a stand, snatched up the locket and marched out the tent, Hermione shouting at her back, finally speaking to her. There was one thing she could control.

The destruction of this damned locket.

"Hari, what are you doing? Hari!"

* * *

 _~Capricious~_

Throwing the locket onto the ground, Hari let loose the hailstorm inside of her. First, she stomped on it repeatedly. When that didn't work, she began firing spells, watching as it did nothing but caused the locket to jump further and further away, further into the dank night. Then she made the mistake of activating her eyes.

The locket reacted immediately, opening and spewing out a thick smog of ink coloured clouds. Unluckily, Hermione had caught up just as the fog threatened to overpower Hari and swallow her. Reacting on instinct, Hari jumped back, barrelling into Hermione and taking her down too. The two crashed down onto the floor just as footsteps rang out, a voice following.

"Hari, Hermione, are you okay? Merlin! What the fuck is that?!"

Both girls snapped to Ron's direction... And so did the locket, the smoke billowing towards him. For all the times he could've come back, he chose now? Then Hari had realized where she had gone wrong, where she had failed. The black flames, they didn't come when she wanted to destroy something, quite the opposite.

They came when she wanted to protect something. Back in the ministry, Sirius still cooling on the floor, Hari didn't want to kill Voldemort or Bellatrix, she had wanted to protect her friends, protect Remus from the same fate that had befallen Sirius.

And so, as Hari darted in front of the smoke faster than she should have been able to, in front of Ron, caging him from danger, protecting him, as the tomoe in her eyes changed to a Kaleidoscope, as the black flames burned bright and alive, eating at the Horcrux, the thing sounding like it was screaming into the night with high-pitched wails and squawks, Hari realized why and how she would defeat Voldemort.

She had people to protect and that would always make her work harder, run faster, be stronger than he was. Love was more powerful than greed and hatred, it always had been and it always would be.

When the locket stopped screaming and was nothing but ash in the black flames that still burned, as the kaleidoscope morphed back to the unsettling red and pin-wheel tomoe eyes but never back to green, as Hermione and Ron came to face her, even as she still stared at the flames, Hermione's startled exclamation jolted her back to the real world, her heart stopping in her chest at her panicked tone.

"What the hell is wrong with your eyes Hari!"

* * *

 **A.N:** I know, this has already been hashed in Harry Potter Canon, but to have this story make sense, while also adding new things for the plot of this story, I sort of need to gloss over the Canon while adding a bit of spice and difference into it. So fear not dear readers, just one more of these chapters and Hari is officially off for the Elemental nations.

These chapters should come pretty quick, as at the moment, I'm only adding to the chapters I already have written while changing a few things (Hari's Memory dream in this chapter for one). However, the chapters and differences will start adding up until its gone a complete one-eighty and chapters all this stories own will be posted, and hence, may take a little longer to come out as I have to start from scratch (I want to update at least once a week, likely Wednesdays)

A huge **THANK YOU** to everyone who has reviewed such kind words, this chapter is for you! And bless all the ones who have followed and favourite'd this madness, all of you are the reason I carry on writing.

That being said, if you have a spare moment (Yes, this is me shaking my little poor author cup at you, put the damn change in!) please review, they really do make me smile and give food for thought. Until next time, stay Beautiful! ~ _AlwaysEatTheRude21_


	3. Flashes part 2

_~Confident~_

When Hari had explained it all to the pair, the exhausting tale from ministry of magic floor to this very seat near a crackling fire shrouded in a un-named woods, forlornly realizing three quarters way through her tale she hardly knew much to tell them herself, she had expected anything but what they gave, yet hoped and anticipated for what they did. She should have known, when it really mattered, Hermione and Ron had her back come hell or high water, and well, hell seemed to be closing in on them these days.

With a quick berating from Hermione, one that left the honey-brunette's hair frazzled and miraculously more frizzy and bigger than ever thought possible, Hermione had told her, after eventually running out of steam and seven syllable words to grumble and groan out it sharp tweets, that they _'Are always there for you, no matter what._ ', and a ever elegant wince and shoulder shrug from Ron announcing _'That's bloody cool mate. Not the whole kidnapping part or... You know, being dragged into a war that isn't yours, but the whole eyes that see shit and shoot fucking fire seems pretty epic."_ that had made her laugh until her sides hurt, Hermione had eventually snatched Hari's book from her and began researching. Really, Hari should have seen that one coming too.

"It's amazing Hari, Ron. I've never seen anything like it. They're like us but so different. So very, very different. With witches and wizards, it's like we have a reservoir of magic, a well that slowly fills up, something inside us we draw from in small bursts, I suppose that's why we only do one spell at a time, and how slow it takes to 're-fill', like a gun... A muggle weapon Ron. With Shinobi and Chakra wielders, they have a complete network set up in their bodies, a constant flow of channels running through them, like a nervous system, engrained, a part of them, not a core like us but a whole system! They can do multiple things that even we can't hope to do! No wonder you're not getting anywhere in your training Hari, you're treating it as if you're still a witch, as if you're using magic and don't have this Chakra system inside yourself. First, we should start with-"

As much as Hari appreciated their quick acceptance and offered help, how could she not when she had a hard time accepting it herself? To know someone, especially her two closest allies were so understanding, so ready to stand at her side when even she didn't fully understand what all this was and what it meant for her, for them, for this war, it had lifted a weight off her shoulders she had not known had been pressing them down so harshly before. However, even with as much gratitude Hari was feeling towards her friends, she tuned out the rest of Hermione's rant.

Right now, hearing what she should and shouldn't be doing wasn't on her top priority list, not when the scar on her forehead began to tickle and heat in the frigid dawn air. Feeling a soft and warm hand on her shoulder, a pleasant feeling that gently tugged her away from the blossoming heat of her scar, a little respite from her charging thoughts and the anxiety that began squeezing her chest like a million rubber bands, Hari slowly turned to face a smiling Ron, the frown puckering at her brows smoothing out as she saw his periwinkle eyes twinkling in the dying camp-fire as the sun began to rise in the sky, breaking through the thick trees.

"At the end Hari, you'll find your family. I know you will."

Reaching up, fingers trembling even as she willed and wished them not too, Hari squeezed Ron's hand with more force than she had wanted to, knuckles turning white, not wanting to let go, even as Hermione rambled about walking on water and producing lightning. Ron didn't grimace, didn't wince, his smile only grew softer, the twinkle more pronounced, his own hand relinquishing its grip on her shoulder to squeeze back reassuringly. Glancing down to her other hand, she once again looked at the photo she had carried with her, the photo she had finally shown Ron and Hermione. The photo of her and her family.

She had not known how much she had really, really needed to hear another person say that until Ron had. She had not known she had needed someone else to believe she would find them too. She had not known she had needed someone else, someone alive and here, to believe she could make it through this, that she could make it to the end despite all odds. Perhaps she could win this war after all.

After all, what other choice did she have if she ever wanted to see her family again?

* * *

 _~Disappointed~_

"The Good news or the bad news first?"

Hari sighed deeply from her sprawled form laid on the forest floor, little twigs and stones digging uncomfortably into her spine and getting lost in the mass of her hair, sure she would spend days or weeks pulling leaves free from its tangled locks. Hermione had put her through the ringer over the last few weeks, ever since she had gotten her own hands on Hari's book, asking her to try this, try that, testing her, pushing her limits, outlining, planning, adapting their already shaky plan of Horcrux hunting for Hari's abilities that were just coming to light. At this point, However, crumpled on the floor, tired and aching, Hari wanted nothing more than to stand up, snatch that damned book from Hermione's grasp and burn the thing. She would have too, if her legs would stop shaking and actually take her weight.

"Either."

Now it was Hermione's time to sigh forlornly as she flickered through the books ageing pages with nimble fingers going through a motion they had previously done a thousand times before, scanning its content with alert golden brown eyes. Hari, in return, did the only thing she could, crank her neck up and look at Hermione expectantly, blinking away the ray of sunlight that fell upon her eyes, bleaching the world around her.

"You have a massive amount of Chakra, that's not up for debate. Even being a witch, I think I can feel it, I think I felt it all along but just hadn't put two and two together until now. It's like a heavy pressure whenever you're around, like gravity, pulling and pushing down from whatever direction you are in. You're fast and precise, faster than most that this book describes by a large difference, faster than any witch or wizard that's for sure and that's something we could use. Your reflex's aren't shabby either, actually, their highly impressive, even compared to this book, likely due to the speed you've gained as well as years of being a seeker for Quidditch. You can also do spells, or versions of spells made from Chakra instead of magic, it should give you an edge in a fight, with wizard or Shinobi, neither expecting the twist. They're your strong points... However, if I can feel it, your Chakra, that means it would be a bloody beacon to others like you. This book says you should be able to mask it, hide it. You may be fast but you aren't the strongest, far from it really, this book describes people who can throw boulders the size of buildings... Boulders, Hari! You're also completely shite at controlling that Chakra. Look what you did to that forest back in Darby, I asked you to blow away a twig and you blew away nearly a mile of trees with a tornado of all things. If we're going to get anywhere, if you're not going to end up killing yourself and saving he-who-must-not-be-named his sole purpose, you're going to have to learn to control it. Which means learning something called Chakra control. There's a few lesson's written here... Have you ever tried walking on water Hari?"

Hari's head flopped to the floor with a cushioned thud, her eyes closing as she sucked in a deep breath through her nose. She had never been so disappointed in herself before. How was she meant to protect anyone if she couldn't control what she could do? How was she meant to kill Voldemort with speed? She couldn't hope to be able to. As tired as she was, as much as all she wanted to do was sleep for the next year, Hari agonizingly pushed herself up to a wobbling stand, staring at Hermione with a slip of a smile that was more broken than the twigs she had crashed down upon.

"Well, you know what they say, no time like the present. Is there a lake around here?"

* * *

 _~Exhausted~_

Three weeks later and as tired as could be humanly possible without death soon following on exhaustion's heels, Hari laughed as she held her hands out and twirled on the ball of her feet, watching avidly as the little ripples danced out beneath her but never threatened to swallow her whole like they had so many times before. Hermione and Ron were on the shoreline, egging her on with a boisterous whoop from the latter and a round of applause by the former. Glancing down, Hari watched as the deep blue water weaved and rolled under her feet.

 _Under her feet._

It was easy once she had figured out how to do it, stem the flow of Chakra that coursed through her, push more in some directions, her feet for example, creating little pockets of air underneath the souls of her trainers, finally allowing her to walk across the water she had fallen into more times than she would like to admit.

When the novelty of watching the water trickle beneath her feet bled thin, or rather, her tiredness threatened to send her swimming if she stayed much longer, Hari staggered back to the shore and was greeted with a well done by Hermione and a clap on the back by Ron. However, as bone tired as she was, the affectionate pat felt like a punch as her jellied legs gave out, collapsing to the floor in a tangle of skewed and stiff limbs. Ron was the first to get over his shock and act, hoisting her back up, wrapping one of her arms around his broad shoulders, one of his sliding home around her waist, pining her to his side, lending his sturdy, immoveable strength to her weary body that felt like a feather caught in a gust of wind, helping her to stay straight as they hobbled to their camp-site.

"Hari, you should have said you were feeling tired! You can't push yourself so much-"

Hari cut Hermione off with a sharp look through the curtain of her hair. Hermione, for once, getting the hint, slammed her mouth shut and averted her eyes, not willing to push any more than she already had.

"I'm fine."

The truth was, if it meant Hermione, Ron, Remus, the Weasley's, Tonks survived this war, she would push herself until her bones broke and she physically couldn't move any more. She needed to push herself if she was going to win this war. She needed to push herself to protect those around her. She needed to push herself if she was ever going to see her family. The only way to get anywhere in life was to push, and push, and push until you either got there, or broke the barrier holding you back.

Still, she passed out before her head fully hit the pillow, a worried glance shared between Hermione and Ron over her slumbering form.

* * *

 _~Frightened~_

Hari had never been as terrified as she had been when the three of them, book-smart Hermione, loud-mouthed strategist Ron and ever-go-lucky Hari infiltrated Gringotts, under the guise and use of Polyjuice and invisibility cloak, trying to break into Bellatrix's vault of all places. None of them were burglars, although, if you really squinted and looked back, under certain lights, they all could be called one.

In her first year, she had broken through three high-level traps that had deterred many witches and wizards to take the philosophers stone. In her second year she had broken into the chamber of secrets, a place so well hidden that it had not been found in a thousand years. In her third year, she had technically, she couldn't stress the technically enough, broke in and freed a mass murderer from under heavy ministry guard and seconds away from his execution, as well as escape a pursuing werewolf... Don't even get her started on the Triwizard tournament. Nevertheless, just like all those other times, the task proved harder than previously thought and obstacles had inevitably popped up.

They had nearly been caught at one point, at the warded gate of Bellatrix's vault, the goblin that had led them down finally clocking on something wasn't as right as he had originally believed it to be. However, before the little snaggle-toothed critter could run off and sound the sirens, likely bringing Voldemort crashing down upon their heads, Hari's eyes had simmered to scarlet and the oddest thing had happened when they locked gazes.

Hari couldn't really explain it, not in words adequate enough at any rate, only that she had imagined a place, a tea room with piles of books and a warm hearth and had somehow, some way, dragged the goblin into it... Mentally that was. They stood outside the open vault, watching as the little goblin began pouring tea that wasn't there, lost in the world Hari had dragged him into, only growing daring enough to slip into the vault after Ron waved his hand in front of the goblins face a few times to make sure he wasn't watching them.

Only after the destruction of yet another Horcrux, Helga Hufflepuff's cup, another victory that sang in her blood, did Hari find out what she had done by a wide-eyed and flushed faced Hermione who had poured over Hari's book for the evasive answer, the word for it written in scrawling script under the most dangerous techniques from the Elemental nations, warning readers of its potency and the wizarding populace of its existence. Worryingly enough, the warning also issued action for any Elemental Shinobi found capable of wielding such a skill. Execution without trial.

 _Genjutsu, as the Elemental's call it, is a type of illusionary technique that bequeaths the wielder with the skill to warp and torment ones mind, create worlds unseen unless you are the unfortunate victim of such a vicious attack, bend the perception of time, and I am sure many other unrecorded feats of mastery our kind have not yet seen. Infallible against all known wizarding counter attacks, including our own masters of O_ _cclumency and Legilimency, any Shinobi, as they like to call themselves, found with this particular skill set, in order of the first Ministry's official decree, is to be put to death on spot, failure to do so will inquire penalty of death upon thy witch or wizard responsible for such a transgression_ _._

If she wasn't scared before, she was now.

* * *

 _~Grief~_

That talent she exceeded in, nearly masterfully, a born gift as Hermione had said, in the illusionary art called Genjutsu came well in the most horrible of ways and a small, tiny, minuscule part of Hari had understood the wizarding world's apprehension concerning this Jutsu. A bigger part of Hari, a large chunk in truth, had died the day this revelation was made.

Somehow Snatchers had grabbed them after a clumsy mistake she had made in activating the taboo curse, a mistake she would forever carry around with her, the blood forever to stain her hands for simply saying one name. Hari, not being able to use her speed to get away as she couldn't and wouldn't abandon Hermione and Ron to where-ever they were taking them, and she would have only been able to carry one, her strength still not up to spar on what the book said it should have been, running on dregs, tired and aching, had been captured along with her two friends. They had ended up in the hands of Bellatrix and Fenrir Greyback, in Malfoy manor, locked in basement cells, sure the end was near when Hari heard the cackling of Bellatrix warning of Voldemort's imminent arrival.

At last second they had been saved by Dobby, precious Dobby, but not without a price, a price Dobby had paid heavily for because her slip of tongue, because of her mindlessness, because of her stupidity. A price Hari had bleeding over her legs as she cradled Dobby to her chest on a beach, crying over him as he slowly faded away from her to another world like Sirius. Like Cedric. Like Dumbledore. Like Lily. Like James... _Red_. When would she ever escape that colour? Could she ever escape the blood red when her own eyes taunted and swirled to that horrid colour themselves?

Trying to stop the sobs but failing at stemming the tears, sticky, moist, hot trails trickling and dripping from her chin, Hari ran a trembling hand over Dobby's head, voice breaking as she spoke.

"Look at me Dobby, look at me and only me."

Dobby did as she requested without question, he always did and the lump in Hari's throat felt like granite as he was instead greeted with red instead of vibrant green. Dobby, loving Dobby, should have never had to have seen red. He should have only ever been given vibrant blues and soft yellows and pale greens. Never red. Agony were r _ed._ Broken promises were _red_. War was _red._ Death was _red._ Pain was _red._ Loss was _red... Red. Red. Red._

 _Hari came to abhor Red._

Instead of a tea shop, Hari conjured up a lush field with spring flowers of powder blue and baby pink, an evergreen tree right in the middle, another version of herself standing underneath it's shade, calling for Dobby, smile wide and hand outstretched, waiting for Dobby to catch up and take a hold of it. Kreacher and other house-elves she had seen around Hogwarts calling out to him with equally brilliant smiles. All smiling, all laughing, all playing... All waiting for him. There was no red in this world, no pain, no loss, no war.

In this world of cloudless sunshine, open fields and laughter, Dobby's hand slipped from hers as he laughed and Hari fought down the biting urge to strengthen her grip, to squeeze and refuse to let go, to relinquish another loved one to a world she could never walk herself, the two having been stood side by side. Eventually, Dobby's hand slipped from hers and all she could do was watch as he jogged over to the group in the distance waiting for him, butterflies dancing through the air, parting around him as he dashed through the field to his friends, to her and the evergreen tree, running into the world he always had deserved but had never been given.

In the real world, Dobby's glazed and unseeing eyes began to lose their spark of life, his limbs flopping as he chuckled, bringing up blood and with his parting words, Hari broke.

 _Red. Red. Red. Red. Everything she ever touched rusted to red._

"Such a beautiful place it is, to be with friends. Dobby is happy to be with his friends, Hari Potter."

Hari sobbed.

* * *

 _~Guilty~_

War was pain. War was loss. War was death. War was as red as her eyes when the Sharingan took root. War was everything wrong with humanity wrapped into one thriving ball of destruction. This was the moment, everything Hari had ever worked towards, the end... The beginning, the heart, all of it. This was it.

Standing in a little alcove that overlooked the main courtyard of Hogwarts, Hari pushed away everything around her, simply focusing on her breathing. In, out. In, out. In, out. People would die tonight, that was not up for question. Red would paint the only place she had ever called home, Hogwarts, and Hari wasn't sure she wanted to be alive to see the colour splashed and stained on the stone walls when all was said and done. Now, only one thing kept her going, kept her breathing, kept her heart beating.

 _The promise of family._

Voldemort and his army were blasting down the wards that had kept Hogwarts safe for over a thousand years, even from her spot, she could see the wards fracturing and splintering under the never ending barrage of spells being fired upon it. The bubble was about to pop any second now and all she could think were two words. _In and out._ The order was gearing up, so were the few students who had stayed to fight. And Hari... Hari was just breathing, existing. _Alive._

People would die tonight and in part, it would be all her fault. If Voldemort had of succeeded that night fifteen years ago, if he had picked anyone else but her, if Dumbledore had never have taken her, it would have never come to this. But it had, and here she stood, breathing.

"Hari... It's time. The wards are about to fall."

Remus's voice was an irritant in the little fraction of inner peace Hari was trying to find before all hell broke loose. Still, she nodded and closed her eyes, taking a few deep breaths, readying herself for the blood about to be spilled. When they re-opened, gone was the welcoming and sparkling green and back was the red. She was ready. This finished tonight. By dawn, either she or Voldemort would be nothing but dust in the wind.

She would feel guilty later. Now... Now she had to fight.

* * *

 _~Hurt~_

Fred Weasley was dead. Pavarti Patil was dead. Angelina Johnson was dead. Sean Finnigan was dead. The hurt and guilt felt like a gaping jaw about to eat her whole, molars ready to grind her bones to dust. Standing in the forbidden forest, walking calmly to a clearing, Hari knew there would be one more joining them in eternal rest.

She had given it her all, had fought with every fibre of her being, every atom, but she couldn't be everywhere at once. While saving Remus and Tonks from a blast that would surely kill them, leaving another orphan, Fred had been cornered and killed. Protecting Minerva from a pissed off Dolohov sneaking up behind her had lead to Pavarti's death. Using her new-found speed to whisk Ginny out of a collapsing corridor had led to Angelina's death. And Sean had died when she wasn't fast enough to cast a Genjutsu on a crowd of hysterical Death-eaters.

But she could protect them all now, there would be no more deaths, no more red, all she had to do was give up that little spark of hope that had carried her this far. The hope she would survive and find her family. She almost wanted to laugh, she wanted to cry, she wanted to scream and shout. She was never meant for a happy ending, she saw that now.

Dumbledore had known it would come down to this all along. Him, back in that hospital wing, telling her she would find her family in the end, it had all been a lie. Dumbledore had needed her to die. The people she loved needed her to die.

 _She was the final Horcrux._

So, she would die. For them. For everyone, she would die. There was no other way. Walking to her death, she felt strangely peaceful, like deep down she had known this would happen all along. The hope and dream of finding her family nothing but a pretty lie to tell herself to get her to this very moment.

It hurt more than anything else.

And like that fairy tale of the Deathly Hallows, with her wand at her side, her eyes green, as Voldemort goaded her, boasted of his victory, as the putrid green flash hit her squarely in the chest, she had greeted death like an old friend. Perhaps she would find that pretty world herself and finally walk amongst its flowers.

Perhaps, if she was really lucky, she would find Sirius and Dobby waiting for her under the evergreen tree.

* * *

 _~Heart~_

She didn't know where she was, couldn't recognize the alien architecture, nor the people with dark hair and dark eyes roaming around her, but Hari couldn't bring herself to care. She still felt that blanket of peace, especially when she saw that fragment of Voldemort's soul on the corner of the road, wither and die. Hari strolled down the bustling street of what looked like a village or a complex of sorts, people chatting and laughing around her, and while everything felt so foreign, as if the world had sharply tilted to the left and then to the right, misplacing everything by an inch, it all still very much felt like... Home. Yes. Home, she was home and there was no more need to worry.

"...Hari..."

Hari paused in her walk, foot half raised, only now realizing the strange garb she was wearing. She had never seen sandals quite like this, nor the tight black trousers, or the grey armoured vest she was wearing over a black armless turtle-neck. She recognized the white and red fan design she had blazoned across her chest like a badge but not the weird shaped mask strapped to her thigh, a lone, red dragonfly painted across the white-washed surface...

Her thoughts felt sluggish, unhurried, broken in places. But she thought... She thought she was dead... But she was home and that was all that really mattered...

"...Hari..."

Oh, right, someone was calling her. Turning around unhurriedly, the sole of her foot finally falling to soft ground, people around her still passing by like she was invisible, Hari got hit in the gut with the sight that greeted her.

They looked the same as the photo, only with a touch of age to their faces that had not been present before. The man and woman, though both were openly smiling now, the man beckoning her with open arms and tear misted eyes that were only fairing a fraction better than the water clogged lashes of the woman. Hari's feet began running for them before she could think a coherent thought, not that her mind had had one since landing in this tranquil place. As soon as she got within distance, his arms wrapped around her and Hari had never felt as she did right then. Whole. Right. Safe. Protected.

 _Home. She was really home now._

"Oh, Hari. What have you done?"

Tears fell from her own eyes as she clung tighter, fingers clenching the back of his kimono-esque top, coming to a revelation she didn't want to come to. If she was dead, if they were here with her now... They were dead too. It had all been for nothing. Her dream, her hope, it was all for naught. But she was with them now. No one could take her away again. Not even god, buddha, Kami, whatever you wanted to call it, could be so cruel as to give her this than snatch it away from her.

"You're here... You're here."

The man, her father, Fugaku's voice brushed the shell of her ear as he spoke, fluttering the locks of her hair that had freed itself from the long braid she wore.

"But they are not and they need you."

The sluggishness returned, fogging her cognitive abilities, drawing out the process of trying to figure out what he was talking about.

"Who's not here... What are you talking about?"

He pulled away, his hands warm and soft, calloused, cradled her face, his thumb stroking away the tear tracks that had fallen and crested on her cheek. Glancing to her mother, Mikoto, who looked so much more like Hari than she had in the photo, the only difference were their eyes, as the woman came closer, running a hand over Hari's hair, brushing away the stray locks, the three huddled in an intimate embrace in the middle of a crowded strange street, only then did she recognize the two people missing. _Her brothers_. Fugaku's voice was gentle as he spoke but held a stern underlying, like a bar of iron wrapped in silk.

"Itachi has the skill. Sasuke has the will. But you... You little Tonbo..."

His forehead brushed against hers, staying there, mind pressed against mind and Hari felt like someone was strangling her.

"You have the heart. You can not live without a heart. They need you."

He pulled away completely, followed by Mikoto, leaving Hari feeling cold and bereft as a tugging began in her sternum, soft but gaining strength with each tug.

"But... But I've only just found you! I can't go now... Please!"

As it turns out, god could and would be so cruel. They began slipping away from her, the surroundings growing blurred, white, bleached, like she was on a conveyor belt being dragged away, even as she began to walk, run, trying to get back to that feeling, back to them, she had nearly reached them again when Mikoto's hand fell on her face, brushing lovingly against her cheek, snapped her out of her frantic movements.

"It's not your time yet Tonbo. We'll see you again. When it's your time. They need you."

The tugging became vicious, Mikoto's hand falling from her cheek, fingertips lingering as Hari was dragged away. Her parents were dead. Gone... But Itachi, Sasuke... They were alive. They needed her...

Hari stopped fighting the pull, instead standing still as the figures of her parents became smaller and smaller. At last, before they finally disappeared into the white that had seeped into this world, Hari gave her word.

"I'll find them!"

Her mother's laughter sounded like bells, it sounded like her own laughter. Mirror images in not only looks it seemed.

"We know you will. Remember Hari, no matter what, you are loved dearly."

Then with one final tug, the world, her parents were gone and Hari's broken and limp body's, being carried by Hagrid to the courtyard of Hogwarts, heart fluttered to life with a pitter-patter.

* * *

 _~Relieved~_

"You just don't stay down do you Potter? I suppose that is Dumbledore's fault, filling your head with hopeless dreams. What neither of you seems to understand is no witch or wizard alive can defeat me! Just give in, I'll make it as painless as possible."

Hari deflected the spell Voldemort shot at her chest but shockingly dropped her wand to the floor instead of retaliating, circling a few steps before she braced her legs, both hands coming up and clasping together in a foreign movement. She had read about this but never tried it before, she didn't know whether it would work or not, but she was sure as the breeze fluttered past her, as the crowd around them added to the tension, on the tail end of that wind, she had heard her mother's voice, Mikoto's whisper one word and she knew... Knew what she had to do.

Her Sharingan had been awoken by pain, by loss, by heartache and in that pain and ache, she had found strength, she had come through it stronger, faster, better. Hermione had been right. She had been living as a witch, but she was no witch, she housed no magic. Red was the colour of war, blood and death... But it was also the colour of passion, heart and Love.

She was an Uchiha and red was her colour.

"Well, that's where you're wrong Tom. I'm not a witch. You picked the wrong child that night... Sharingan."

Hari's eyes morphed into the spinning wheel, twirling faster than it had ever done before, and just as Voldemort's wand began to rise, panic setting up home on his face, Hari's hands moved in a blur and she spoke the word she had heard the wind whisper.

"Susanoo!"

Her eyes began to bleed like they had all that time ago, when she had been broken and weeping on the floor. But she was no longer broken. No longer weak. The loss of her loved ones was no weakness, nothing to exploit, it was her strength, their memory gave her the power to protect others from following in their footsteps.

Fred. Pavarti. Angelina. Dean. Mad-eye. Sirius. Dobby. Lily. James. Hedwig. The countless faceless that lined the great hall.

Green Chakra flared out around her, engulfing and twirling, forming. Out of the flames, dust clouds and startled cries, stood a giant woman made of green fire, skeletal form flickering through the green flames, Dragonfly masquerade mask perched on a transparent face. Before Tom Riddle could utter his final words, the Chakra in human form, a giant compared to the demolished castle and people around them, swerved it's sword, a sword that eerily looked like Godric Gryffindors, slicing through Tom Riddle in one sweeping motion.

His body disintegrated, flakes drifting through the wind that had given her the answer and with one silent scream, he was gone. Dead. As the woman, her Chakra too blew away on the wind, Hari's knee's folded in on her, sending her crashing to the floor, the world fading around the edges as exhaustion dragged her into sleep.

She was alive. People she loved still breathed. No one else would join them this day. In that moment, she found true peace.

 _She had won_

* * *

 _~Journey~_

It had been four months since the end of the war. Since the book on the greatest wizarding war since records began had been shut forever. Hari had paid her dues. She had helped rebuild Hogwarts. She had gone to every funeral. She had paid her condolences. Only recently turning sixteen, Hari had been through hell and back.

But she wasn't finished.

"You always did try and get away from saying goodbye. Not this time Hari."

Hari, a single bag packed, though extended through charms to hold things she just couldn't bare to leave behind and already slung over her shoulders, paused at the door of Grimmauld place, smiling as she turned to face Hermione and Ron, who were standing at the bottom of the hallway stairs, smiling too.

"I thought I had you this time."

Hermione was the first to come down, holding a bag herself, though still in Pyjamas. Ron followed, eyes merrily dancing.

"I know we can't come. This isn't our journey to take... But I swear Hari, if I don't hear from you within a year, hostilities or not, I'll find a way into those Elemental nations myself and hunt you down. I promise you that."

Hari chuckled heartily as she turned to hug Hermione, grip strong. She didn't know when she would next see the brunette or ginger, but she knew every day she would miss them. For so long it had been the three of them, the three of them against the teachers, against the ministry, against the world. To part ways now, and for such a selfish reason... But Hermione was right. This was her journey and hers alone. Hermione and Ron had a life to build here, and as much as she would miss them, knowing they were happy and safe would be enough.

"Wouldn't want that now would we, the Shinobi wouldn't know what hit them."

Hermione gave a suspiciously wet chuckle as she pulled back, discreetly scrubbing at her eyes.

"Here, take this. It's only a change of clothes, some food and a few resources, but it will come in handy. You go in there dressed like that, they're going to think you're a witch. I only had the book to go by, so the clothes may be a bit wrong or out-dated but I transfigured them the best I could-"

Hermione, when emotional, fell back into lecture mode, rattling off facts faster than you could blink. So Hari cut her off, trying to wrangle in her own emotions. They had been together for so long, been at each other's backs, it almost felt wrong to leave them behind, but just as they had a life here to build, Hari had a family to find and a life of her own over the horizon. She supposed parting ways was just another factor of growing up.

"Thank you, Hermione. I'm sure they're great. This isn't goodbye, I'll see you someday. You can't get rid of me that easily."

This time it was Ron that swept her up into a bone crushing hug.

"I should bloody hope so Hari. Stay safe now."

Hari squeezed back before sharply pulling away, straightening herself out with a tug to her coat and a forced smile. She would not cry. Not now. She had brothers to find... A twin out there somewhere... A family that needed her.

"You too. No goodbyes... I hate goodbyes. I'll see you soon."

Ron and Hermione nodded and Hari couldn't take much more. With a soft nod, Hari took the offered bag, turned and walked out the door, the click sounding like a gunshot through the night. It would be two months before her sandal-covered feet hit Elemental nation soil, two months and a week before she stood at the biggest gate she had ever seen.

Her story wasn't over... It was just beginning.

* * *

 **NEXT CHAPTER:** We have a little interlude from an insiders eyes and Konoha has an intruder...

* * *

 **A.N:** Only a few little changes and tweaks this chapter, but next chapter we really start to depart from the other story. If you have read the other story, I will only say this, Hari isn't as lucky in this fic as she was in the other and her trip to Konoha is not as smooth sailing as it was in Windows To The Soul.

A big THANK YOU to all those who reviewed, followed and favourite'd! You guys are the best! As always, what do you guys think so far? Like? Dislike? Raging hate?

As always, please review, the longer the review the fuller my starving little fanfic author belly becomes and the more energy I have to type up a new chapter ;) If anyone has any questions, or even scenes or things they would like to see in incoming chapters, drop it in a review or P.M and I'll try my best to answer/incorporate it.

One last Thank you to everyone who spends time reading through this madness, and until next time, stay beautiful! _~AlwaysEatTheRude21_


	4. Prelude in Pink

~CHAPTER THREE: A PRELUDE IN PINK.~

Sakura Haruno sighed deeply as she shuffled file after file into the numerous cabinets that were housed in the basement of Konoha's hospital, pausing for a split moment to roll her neck at the stinging twinge that stabbed between two vertebrae, coming to a stand from her haunched over position to kick the draw she had been filing shut. The basement was dingy at best, at worse, it was a downright death trap of dust, forgotten papers that towered to the ceiling and teetering cabinets that threatened to cause an apocalyptic avalanche at any given moment.

However, she supposed, that was what you got when you put every birth record in Konoha's long history into one room and left it to turn yellow and crinkle with age. Forgotten... Exactly how she had felt when Sasuke-kun had left her crumpled on that damned bench, only for Naruto to leave too, training under his own legendary Sannin. Yes, Sakura supposed, both she had these papers had quite a lot in common, both forgotten and abandoned, left to age and collect dust in a dark in what others perceived as 'safety'.

It was a mundane task to be sure, one surely fitting someone of less skill than the apprentice of the fifth Hokage, but that was what one got when said poor, pink haired apprentice asked too many questions to a hung-over shishou in the early morning hours. Honestly, by now Sakura should have known better than to utter a peep before her beloved teacher had at least three sake's inside of her. Wallowing in self-pity, something even Sakura would admit she did well, too well sometimes, still did not stop her eyes from skirting to one particular cabinet, only to force her gaze back to the task at hand... She mustn't, Tsunade would have her head if she even caught wind of it.

Nothing was out of the ordinary, nothing too outlandish about the metal contraption that housed hundreds of years worth of birth certificates, a tarnished blue-grey like all the other clones that surrounded it, all standing to attention like little metal soldiers. That was if you did not notice or take note of the Uchiha symbol emblazoned proudly on its side, like the renowned fan was a badge of honour that set it apart from the others, somehow made it more important than all the other cabinets. Perhaps it did, after all, Sakura herself was paying more attention to that particular cabinet than any other, wasn't she? Others in its row stood with the same symbol, like little ageing guardians that hoarded and protected the withered papers that tracked and recorded a clan's whole history, every member, every family, every single life that had been birthed.

But that one cabinet was the newest one, and likely the last too because of the current state of that clan, even more unfortunately, Sakura could not see a way for the clan to rebound after what had taken place... After her Sasuke-kun had left and so, that hapless, crooked cabinet would be the very last in a long, long line. Although, that was not what had secured Sakura's attention so deftly, the state of a dying clan, but because Sakura knew it held in its depths somewhere a very special birth certificate.

 _Maybe just one peek... No._ Sakura shook her head, forcing herself to stare sternly down at the pile of files in her own arms. She had no time to be reminiscing, no time to be trying to bring porcelain skin and raven locks to clarity in her mind, not if she wanted to get this finished before her first shift in the bustling hospital above her head. Nevertheless, despite all her mental urging to focus, the actual task proved to be more difficult as her eyes, seemingly of their own accord, drifted back to that damned cabinet, her thoughts straying to the memory of her missing team-mate.

How long had it been now? How long had it been since Sasuke had left her crashed on that bench, alone and cold as he turned his back on the village, on his friends, on Naruto... On her? How long since Naruto had followed in his footsteps, although keeping his loyalty intact, leaving her to gain more power to finally track down Sasuke and bring him back to where he belonged? How long had it been since she was left alone? Just a year, a simple twelve months, but it felt like a lifetime.

Maybe just a peek wouldn't hurt, just something to remind her that he was real and out there, that Sasuke was real and not a figment of her imagination, a reminder that one day, another year from now or maybe more, she and Naruto would bring him back to where he belonged. _At home with her._ Just a peek that would remind her of the good old days, the three of them training with Kakashi-sensei under blistering sun and falling leaves. At the end, what did patient confidentiality matter when that patient had become a rogue-nin?

Sakura had never been good at denying temptation and this time proved to be no different.

With a shuffle of her eyes darting around the room, as if she was expecting Tsunade-sama to pop out behind a tower of stacked papers and shout 'Got you!' before she chucked a well aimed heel at Sakura's head, Sakura placed the folders crowding her arms onto the top of the cabinet she was currently sorting out, edged to the cabinet in question and as if finally committed to the act, leaped into action by yanking the top drawer open, deftly fingering through names as she searched with shaking hands and trembling lip. It was in the fourth draw she finally found what she was searching for with dilated pupils, yet also, found something she had not been looking for at all.

The file was the same colour as the rest, a beige with a boldly printed name tag on top scrawled in elegant writing that tickled something familiar in the back of Sakura's memory. However, she could not focus on the familiar writing when faced with such an oddity as she had been. For, unlike all the other files Sakura had been forced to re-order... It didn't house just one name.

 ** _Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Hari._**

Slipping the file out, Sakura frowned as she held it out in front of her, her thumb stroking the card of the folder, gaze flickering between the innocuous file and the cabinet that had been hiding it for all these years. Half bewildered, half frightened of something she could not name or give face to, she turned her attention back to the cabinet, flicking through the draw, pausing to pull files free to stare at the names before cramming them back into place more harshly than warranted, especially for such old documents, but she only found files like the countless others she had seen all before... One name per file. _What in Kami's name was going on?_

"You shouldn't be going through those Sakura-chan. Not only are you breaking patient confidentiality, digging into things that you have no business digging into, but other numerous laws I thought I had drilled inside your head at this point. I thought I had taught you better than this... Don't tell me we have to go back to basics?"

Sakura jumped at the voice that boomed out of the darkness behind her, the broken light-bulb and no windows making the basement even more gloomy, adding a baritone to the voice that Sakura had not heard before. Suspiciously, the baritone sounded like disappointment and Sakura had to try not to swallow her tongue or let the mist fog her eyes at the berating bite the voice held. She loathed disappointing her shishou. Spinning around on her heel, nearly losing balance and falling into the cabinet she had been rooting through, Sakura pressed the file close to her chest, as if the flimsy card and paper could guard her against the woman standing in front of her. A mountain didn't stand a chance, what would a slip of paper do?

"Tsunade-sama... I was just... I was filing when... I was going to..."

Sighing and relaxing her tense form, Sakura sheepishly brushed a lock of hair behind her ear, her eyes straying to her sandal covered feet, giving up the death grip she had on the file. There was no point in lying, Tsunade could always tell and Sakura couldn't bring herself to lie to her, not to the one teacher who had never given up on her... Who had never left her behind. Thankfully, Tsunade saved her from any more mortification when the taller woman strolled forward, a small smile on her lips as she spoke.

"I know you miss him Sakura, that's okay, you're not the only one. But some things... Some things are just not for you to look through, and some books... Some files, once opened can never be closed again, no matter how much you may wish they could be."

When all Sakura did was pull the file away from her chest, having not realized until that moment she had almost began to lovingly cradle it, and stared down at the folder, eyebrows puckered and fixed in concentration, Tsunade sighed deeply before walking to an overturned crate, taking a seat as she primly crossed her legs and looked intently at her apprentice.

As much as Tsunade's words struck a deep cord within her, the truth of it all ringing clear and bright, Sakura had the horrid trait of being too curious and nosey for her own good some times and unfortunately, when the matter concerned Sasuke, that trait was only aggravated into a gaping wound. Luckily for Sakura, Tsunade seemed to be in a humorous mood this afternoon.

"If you are going to question something, at least say it out loud so it can be answered."

Sakura finally tore her gaze away from the folder to look at Tsunade, gazes locking, hands still tightly clasped around the file, nearly bending it under the pressure of her gloved hands. She still had time to turn back, to put the file back where it belonged and pretend she had saw nothing. She could go on, do as Tsunade had warned her, for Sakura knew it had been a warning despite the jovial tone Tsunade had used, and not open a book she could not close... But the question would plague her, taunt her... Was that really better than not knowing? Should she turn her back or jump?

"Why does this file have two names? All the others have just one."

And so, Sakura jumped. Tsunade nodded as if she had expected just that question, as if she knew Sakura would not be able to leave well enough alone, reached beside her to the spare space and patted it, offering Sakura a seat. Sakura didn't hesitate to take it, scuttling over to perch on the crate beside her shishou, nearly mirroring her Tsunade's posture. Tsunade's gaze tumbled down to the file in Sakura's hand, the slips of paper the blonde's sole focus now, Sakura didn't know whether this was a good sign or a bad one, and with a lazy flick of her wrist, ordered Sakura to do what she had been dying to do since she had stumbled across the file.

"Open it."

Sakura's fingers shook slightly as she hesitantly did what she had been itching to do, flicking the file open and soaking in the words written, as well as the small photo held to the corner of the file with a rusting paper clip. However, as soon as her jade eyes landed on the little photo, Sakura couldn't tear them away, couldn't divert their course and finally, she knew what her teacher had been trying to tell her in the beginning. _There are some things you just can't un-see._

The photo was barely the size of Sakura's palm, and if she did not have the file to back up the photo, she would have believed it to be somebody else entirely, despite what her mind was screaming at her, despite knowing exactly who was in that photo even in their lack of years and age, despite the prominent colouring that Sakura knew all too well. A colouring Sakura had spent most of her academy days admiring from afar, watching, observing, soaking in. The colouring Sakura had found began to grow hazy the longer the person had been gone, the reason she had wanted to open the file in the first place... To remember.

Two newborns were swaddled together, though both had broken free from their restraint, one baby, a boy... Sasuke had fought his hand into the other babies hair, rambunctiously curly even at this young age, in the throws of tugging it closer and closer to himself, the other baby, a girl by the looks of it, in turn had done the same to him, almost like there was a mirror between them, reflecting and copying.

They had pulled each other so close that their foreheads were pressed neatly against the others, forming, if you squinted your eyes, a love heart with the way the blanket criss-crossed over their lower, chubby bodies. If not for the closed eyes, flushed cheeks and obvious state of sleeping, Sakura would have believed the two babies to have been hurting one another by the tight grip and close quarters. Being so close... Pressed together and swaddled as one... They must have shared the same peaceful breaths too...

She couldn't stop the rush she felt to read the words printed on the page, her eyes finally un-glueing from the picture to scan and absorb the words, nor the gallop her heart had begun to take, growing wider eyed by the second, finishing the page only to start all over again, sure she had read it wrong. _Wrong. No. Not Possible. Wrong again, re-read. Re-read. Re-read. Re-Read!_ After a long, drawn out, heart rendering silence, Sakura's voice, higher pitched than normal and with more than a hint of panic, spluttered out into the air, her tongue tying itself into knots, missing syllables, jumbled, broken, scattered like her thoughts and feelings.

"Twins... How... When... Why... How?"

Had it been tampered with? Was this some form of sick joke? Sakura knew Sasuke, she knew him... She knew him and he knew her! This was some despicable, elaborate lie and she would not fall for it! If he had a twin, she would have known! Naruto would have known! But when the soft, freshly nail-polished hand of her shishou softly landed on her shoulder blade, when with frantic eyes she looked to her teacher and saw nothing but pity mixed with honesty, Sakura was hit with the truth of it all. Why had no one told her? No. This had to be a lie. A thoughtless prank. She would right it... She would fix it... _What would Sasuke-kun think of this if he was here to witness this... This charade?_

"I know what you're thinking and don't. It's true, I should know, I was the medic on call when Uchiha Mikoto gave birth, I was the one to write that file you're currently nearly tearing to peices. It was one of my first full shifts too and it put me through the ringer. Even after all these years, I haven't quite played witness to a birth like it. We thought it was just a normal birth in the beginning, even Fugaku and Mikoto hadn't suspected twins, having only picked one name out. You know how rare twins are Sakura-chan. Sasuke had breached you see, came out feet first, we were scared Uchiha Mikoto wouldn't make it through... When he eventually did come out, we thought it was all over. I remember trying to pick him up to hand over to a nurse on duty, to get him washed and cleaned, only he was holding on to something, even back then he was a stubborn little thing with a strong grip. It was only later, when the contractions started again and Sasuke wouldn't let go, that the other baby made an appearance and we found out what Sasuke had been holding onto so tightly. His little sister's ankle. Even in the throws of being birthed, he refused to let go of her. In the end, they settled for the name Hari... I have still never seen an Uchiha with eyes as green as hers. I drank myself silly that night."

Sakura bustled and flared with indignation, even as Tsunade's tone turned wistful and lost in remembrance of times long passed and dead. Why was she only learning of this now? Why had no one told her? Why had Sasuke not told her? He had a sister, a younger sister and no one had thought that it was important to tell his team-mates? To tell her?

"Why did no one tell me?"

Sakura's question came out more like a demand than anything else, childish even to her own ears, due to the building anger bubbling in her gut. She had no idea why she was so angry, but by Kami almighty was she. However, that fire was quickly put out when faced with her shishou's hardened eyes and thinned lips.

"It was not our story to tell. It's Sasuke-san's life Sakura, just because you feel like you deserve to know, that people are obligated to tell you everything you wish to know, doesn't mean you actually do. Remember that. Tell me, when has Sasuke-san ever spoken about his family to you, to Naruto willingly? And not just his thirst for Itachi's death? I didn't think so. Old wounds hurt us the most."

Shame washed over Sakura like a tidal wave. Tsunade was right. She had spent all of her academy life, and regretfully a long time after, trying to find everything out about Sasuke, yet she had never actually sat down and asked _him._ Actually... She hadn't asked him much, simply made her own judgements from observations and labelled it as fact. Had she ever really known him? Sakura shook her head. No. She had known him, maybe not everything, maybe not the most important parts of him, but she had known some of him. That had to count for something. The hand at her back fell away. Still, curiosity burned brightly in her mind at this new revelation.

"Is she... Is Hari-san dead? Is that why he never told me and Naruto? Did she die in the massacre too?"

Tsunade sighed and rolled her shoulders, working out the kinks that their cramped little alcove caused as she reached down beside her, at the back of the crate and pulled out a sake bottle and a little cup. To be completely honest, Sakura wasn't a bit surprised at this turn, she had suspected her shishou had a stash in every room in the hospital for quite a while now. The bottle popped as Tsunade opened it, she poured a drink, downed it in one, only to pour another and start a cycle that looked to be endless.

"A long time ago, visitors from another country, another world some say, came to our nations. U~izādo, though, they called themselves wizards. It was a peaceful and seemingly prosperous meeting for both us and them in the beginning, an exchange of information really. Until that is, they tried converting us to their ways, when they began demanding things from us we had no hope to give. Things we couldn't give. After a rather vicious battle, they promised to leave, it was only a shame our elders couldn't see the gleam in their eyes. When they did leave, they abducted many children, one from each prominent clan that had engaged with them at some point. The Senju, Uzumaki, Nara, Hyuuga and Uchiha clans were the only ones left intact, the five having declined the U~izādo's glittering promises from the beginning, warning the others not to trust nor deal with the U~izādo. They searched but could never find the children. Time carried on and as the years ticked by, upon the anniversary of the abduction, the U~izādo sent back bits of the children to their respective clans... When I say bits, I mean bits Sakura-chan. It was a very dark time in our history, until finally, upon the sixth year, for daring to turn the U~izādo down, they finally sent each child's head home. The message was clear. We banned all contact, any visiting, coming and going, everything. It was a long while before we suspected they had paid us a visit..."

Sakura winced as her gut churned violently at the vivid images the story had sprung to her closed eyelids. She was a shinobi and as a shinobi, she was used to the harsher ways of life. Yet children, when it came to innocent children, she could never get over the brutality. The world could be a dark, dark place indeed. Even darker than she had originally believed with these... U~izādo lurking in the shadows. But how did it all fraction into the topic they were talking about? Tsunade-sama had said it was a long time ago, and having barred all contact, looking like it was successful with Sakura just finding out about these beings, what did this have to do with anything?

"What does this have to do with Sasuke-kun's twin... With this Hari-san?"

Tsunade's face turned grim, lips thinning, eyes growing distant, fingers clenching around her sake cup as she stared resolutely into the liquid as if it could give her all the answers. Dread filtered through Sakura like breeze would, raising the hairs on the back of her neck, goosebumps pimpling her flesh. Tsunade-sama rarely grew grim, but when she did, Sakura found it to be one of the most frightening sights to behold.

"Uchiha Hari didn't die Sakura-chan. She disappeared. On the night she was abducted, for it was an abduction despite what those insipid elders sprout, an U~izādo was spotted on the outskirts of the Uchiha compound an hour before it took place. I don't believe in coincidences Sakura, and neither do you I believe. The very night she was taken, the elders decreed it was too dangerous to follow, even though they argued until they were blue in the face that it was no U~izādo who had been the culprit, not listening to the many accounts from shinobi and civilians alike that one had been seen. Hari and Sasuke Uchiha had only just celebrated their first birthday. The rest is history. Mikoto and Fugaku Uchiha were left to grieve over a child with no grave."

Sakura mulled over the overload of information her shishou had given her. However... Something just didn't click, didn't feel right, her gut telling her there was more to the story, more than maybe even Tsunade-sama knew about. Since she had begun training, her first lesson, the one that stuck with her most was always trusting her gut. Right now? Right now her gut was screaming at the wrongness that tinged the stories edges.

However, what that wrong thing was, was not apparent.

In the grand scheme of things, with all but two Uchiha dead and gone, one soon to follow if Sasuke got his way, this Hari's death did not equate to anything big. Just another lost or dead Uchiha, another loss that had pushed Sasuke to the lengths he was all too willing to go, another wedge that pushed him further away from the village, away from her. Did he know he had a twin at one point? Did he know the village banned any rescue attempts? If he did, his originally sudden turn of distrust against the village, how he refused to ask the elders or Hokage for help didn't seem all that sudden.

"So you think Hari-san is gone? That she is dead, having been taken to send a message to the Uchiha for not negotiating with them when they first came?"

The words didn't fit right on her tongue, even as she spoke them. It was like someone had put the wrong jigsaw piece in place only to tell her that that was where it belonged. If the U~izādo was spotted a full hour before the abduction, how did it get through and into the compound? With a threat so close to home, the Uchiha would have geared up and got ready, having not known why the U~izādo was there... Which left only one outcome that made any lick of sense to Sakura. The U~izādo had inside help. Inside help from the Uchiha, inside help that had say and sway on the Elders council. Someone had handed over the baby. By Tsunade-sama's humourless laugh that crackled roughly through the air, Sakura had come to the same conclusion she had about the whole ordeal.

"No, I don't believe she was taken in the dead of the night by a single U~izādo with no help. Neither do I think she was taken to send a message to the Uchiha. The original children were returned in six years, fourteen have passed now with no sign of her. Think Sakura, what do people want from the Uchiha? What do other Uchiha's want from other Uchiha's?"

Sakura's gut sank like it was made from lead.

"Their eyes. You think they took her for her eyes? Why would anybody, let alone another Uchiha do that? Giving an enemy your greatest weapon, the secrets of that weapon... It makes no sense."

Tsunade gave a sharp nod, her bangs fluttering against her cheek and Sakura could have sworn, as she tipped and sipped the last of her sake, that the seal on her forehead glinted dangerously in the dim light.

"I don't think it was an Uchiha who helped, no, you're right in that. It makes no sense. However, someone who coveted that knowledge, who knew the landscape of the compound, an elder... Well, I have my theories and suspicions that are best not spoken in open areas, nor are for your ears. You said the answer yourself Sakura. A weapon. Maybe the U~izādo were in their own war, maybe they were losing and had gotten desperate enough, who knows? But what I am sure of is this, there would be only one use for Uchiha Hari, either way, it's not hard to come to the conclusion that Hari-san was taken to be a weapon, god knows what happened after. Death likely. She was young when she was taken, just a year old, it would be un-probable she ever knew about her family, or where she had came from. Even if she was alive, if, which is unlikely, do you think Sasuke-san would change his mind, come home and everything would be sunshine and roses? For a twin he has not seen in fourteen years? This ghost will not help bring Sasuke back Sakura, I'd wipe that from my mind if I was you. It's just another sad story in our long history."

No. Sakura didn't believe that, not for one moment. Maybe it was down to her shishou not knowing Sasuke like she did, maybe she was just deluding herself, but Sakura knew Sasuke. She knew him. Knew what pushed him to abandon his village, knew what his goal was, knew what kept him going each day. She knew why he hunted down Itachi like a rabid dog, because Itachi had taken the one thing he wanted most away from him.

 _Family._

Maybe, just maybe, she could see this because she came from a civilian home, filled with love and laughter, and not from a clan. Being raised in a clan, pressure was put on from an early age. Duty. Honour. Village pride. They all were droned into the heads of impressionable children. But family, family was the root of it all, the trunk to the great tree. The same thing that made Sasuke do what he was doing.

And twins, well, as rare as they were among her people, civilians too, perhaps Hari-san held that same core drive. They were made from the same Chakra after all, grew in the same womb at the same time, dammit, according to Tsunade, Sasuke had dragged his sister into the world and didn't let go even after his own birth.

If Hari-san was alive, if she ever found out, she would come looking. Sakura knew it. For if Sakura was in her shoes, she would do the same. Surely if she was dead, the U~izādo would have sent her back, maybe in pieces like they had done to all the other children? Despite the sad twists and turns of the story, despite the probability, there was one thing missing that all stories had.

 _An ending._

And that... That alone gave Sakura hope because in this dim and dank basement, breathing in dust and the stinging smell of sake, staring down at the photo of the two babies, idly running her fingers over the glossy front. This Uchiha Hari could be, was, would be, maybe, the key to bringing Sasuke back home. Sakura only had one question left.

"Does Sasuke-kun know about her? Does he know he has... Had a twin?"

Tsunade went to pour herself another glass, only to pour out air and a single drop, sighing forlornly at the lack of sake she found herself in. The bottle and cup mad a clink as Tsunade stashed them back into the little hole they came from.

"Yes. His family never forgot about her, never gave up hope that one day, against the odds, she would come walking through the compound gates. You're not the first person I've had to have this conversation with you know, I had it with Hatake Kakashi when he was still training Sasuke-san. To be honest, you've taken it a lot better than he had. One day, after training, Sasuke had spoken about her. Only once from my knowledge, and I don't know the full conversation, only snit-bits Kakashi-san had informed me of later. Sasuke-san had told him that it felt like he had lost a limb, a constant ghost just over his shoulder, a ghost he would sometimes find himself turning towards to speak to, only to find nothing. I suppose twins are like that, the bond, its hard to break, even when one is dead or missing. I had seen them once, at a check up for the after birth care, they seemed joined at the hip, squawking and screaming when separated even for the briefest of moments. But Sakura-chan, Hari is gone. Dead. She is not coming back. Now, enough of this. You have work to complete and I have another bottle to hunt down."

As Tsunade slapped her thighs and began to stand, Sakura jolted up, politely bowing her head.

"Hai, shishou!"

Tsunade gave her a soft nod accompanied by an indulgent smile before sweeping out of the basement, leaving Sakura to scuttle back to work with more gusto than she had felt before. She had seen Sasuke do just what Tsunade had said, in those little breaks where he thought no one was watching, the distant look in his eyes as his mouth opened just a sliver, his head turning a fraction before he stalled and everything clammed up and he returned to that stoic stare. Now she knew why.

Uchiha Hari might be gone, but dead? Sakura didn't think so. If there was one thing she knew about the Uchiha, especially Sasuke's family, was they were difficult bastards, almost intensely stubborn and very hard to kill.

If Hari was alive, she would be back... Back to find a family broken and shattered, but back to a family not completely gone. Uchiha Hari was the key to finally bring Sasuke back from the dark edge he was currently dangling over, hopefully without bloodshed. Sasuke wanted a family, and even if shishou and everyone else didn't believe that was possible, even if they thought Sasuke was too far gone, Sakura now knew differently.

Sasuke had come into this world dragging his sister into it by her foot, and if need be, Sakura was sure this Hari would drag Sasuke back home, back into the light by his foot, wailing if need be. Love was a powerful thing and there weren't much that was purer than a bond between siblings.

A bond between twins.

* * *

 _~One year, six months later~_

Time had eased the pain of the absence of her team-mates, but that wound had never fully healed. In fact, with Naruto's imminent arrival due any day now, it felt like someone had re-opened it with a pair of rusty forceps. The town was abuzz with speculation, an undercurrent of excitement simmering through the city that lit up the faces of those who knew who was coming back, yet not all was well in their village, not when faced with the greeting Tsunade had given her that morning.

In the years that had passed, Sakura had grown steady under Tsunade-sama's tutelage, although, unfortunately for some, she had also picked up her mentor's notorious temper. All in all, it had been a peaceful few years, a time of prosperity in her village, a time to heal and rebuild and re-strengthen. A time to grow. But now, in the face of Naruto's return, she felt like a genin all over again, self-conscious, weak, unworthy to stand by his or Sasuke's side. She wondered how powerful they had become, _without her holding them back._ Sakura shook her head violently. No. That was the thirteen-year-old her speaking, taunting, haunting.

That morning, sitting in Tsunade's office, beheld with a stern face, determined, next to Kakashi-sensei of all people who was lounging on the couch, his iconic book for once missing from the scene, with Shizune standing at the side of the Hokage's desk, as grim of face as Tsunade, Sakura knew something was happening and it had nothing to do with Naruto's return. When all was silent, when Sakura was sure that very silence would eat her alive with worry and anticipation, did Tsunade finally speak.

"What is said in this office right now stays between us. Do you all understand? If you can't except that, there's the door. Leave now."

There was no room for arguments or disagreements. Sakura's heart began a steady increase in her ribcage, especially when Kakashi, normally so laid back and easy going, straightened up and stood up, hands jammed into the depths of his trouser pockets, directly facing Tsunade as he nodded sharply.

Only when all eyes turned to her, gulping at the sudden burst of attention she had garnered, did Sakura give her own shaky and less sure nod. However, it seemed good enough as Tsunade placed her elbows on her polished desk, fingers interloping and locking, pressed underneath her chin. Sakura had seen that look before, when Tsunade gambled, the same look she got when she felt like she was losing but refused to fold. This was a bad omen indeed. Subconsciously, Sakura's hands folded together in her lap, hiding the tremble they had taken on.

"Two weeks ago, I received reports about a squirmish that took place on the outskirts of Otogakure. By the accounts given, a base had been infiltrated by a lone assailant and the civilians... Housed inside were released and lead to safety to the border of Konoha. The base at the time was not heavily guarded, but guarded enough to leave this... Unknown shinobi injured, to what extent, we do not yet know. Still, the fact that a single person has dismantled one of Otogakure's bases is, alone, enough to worry about without the additional happenings."

Sakura tried to stem the wince that wanted to scrunch at her face, the corner of her eye grimacing under the restrain of repressed emotion. It was no secret what happened in those bases, those underground prisons of human torture and experimentation. Still, Sakura could not find anything about this tit-bit of information to feel upset about, not for Konoha at any rate. To her, and surely others, the more of these bases that were terminated, the better, not only for their gruesome and inhumane actions, but because each base that fell was another that Sasuke could not hide in, leaving the job of tracking him down that much easier.

That being said, she understood her shishou's apprehension, especially if the report was true and a single person had done this. It left two many questions. How were they able to do it? Why did they do it? Who where they and what side were they on? Questions like these, in their line of work, if not answered could lead to death, a terrifying could-be-death of a loved one. So, yes, while happy at this bit of news, it equally worried her too. It wasn't long before Tsunade carried on, un-hindered by the seemingly endless questions that plagued Sakura's own mind.

"One week five days ago, after negotiations and the refugee's finally making contact, Konoha has accepted these refugee's into our village to heal and get back on their feet, a bit of land outside the gate is currently being cleared to set up temporary housing. While the refugee's were being questioned about what exactly went on in this base, our Anbu trying to gather Intel on perhaps Orochimaru's next move, we learned more about the infiltrator that had freed them and... Well... This is where things become complicated and my head begins to pound. According to the survivors of this base, they had been freed by... Well, an Uchiha."

And just like that, Sakura's world splintered around her, breaking and flaking away. An... An Uchiha? An Uchiha, who had been to an Otogakure base had freed it's prisoners, lead them here for safety... There was only one Uchiha Sakura could think that would do such a thing, only one possible candidate. Sakura couldn't stop herself from jolting forward a step, the ground beneath her feet feeling like it was tilting, the world around her swimming, her heart pounding as loudly as Tsunade's headache likely.

"You... Shishou... Do you think Sasuke-kun has defected from Orochimaru? That he's coming..."

... _Home. To her? To where he belonged?_ Had he finally seen the error of his ways, realised that people, she mainly, missed him and that he had everything he could want here? He had to, that was the only explanation... However, even as Sakura thought this, her gaze flickered between that of Tsunade, Shizune and Kakashi, confused and slightly hurt at Tsunade's pitying glance, Kakashi's stiffened back and averted gaze as well as Shizune who had suddenly found something infinitely interesting outside the Hogake's office window, turning her back to the happenings of the room and Sakura's obvious excitement. Tsunade coughed into a closed fist before she answered Sakura's question that was really more of a plea than anything else, a hopeless, childhood dream she just could not let go of.

"No, by all reports given, this Uchiha is... Female, around the same age as Sasuke-san, is the same age if what I'm hearing is true, capable of Amaterasu, extremely fast, has a penchant for Genjustu... And has green eyes. I think we all know only one Uchiha with green eyes."

Sakura blinked owlishly, that photo she had seen a year ago flashing in her mind, imprinting on her closed lids, taunting her every time she blinked. Sasuke-kun's sister... Not Sasuke. The ramifications of this, if it was true, which Tsunade thought it to be if she had spent enough time gathering them here to share this, where... Uncountable. Another Uchiha... Another Uchiha was out there, somewhere, close to Sasuke... An Uchiha with no affiliation, unknown powers and skills, out in the open. _Kami... Could this get any worse?_ Sakura began to ramble, her thoughts getting away from her, escaping through her mouth and infecting the air around them, infecting the ears that would listen, not for a moment realizing that the truth was a lot worse than what she had pictured.

"You think Sasuke-kun's twin is here? That she is onside with Orochimaru? This could be what Orochimaru used to tempt Sasuke-san to his will! He... He used Sasuke-kun's sister to draw him-"

Tsunade cut her off with a soft flutter of her head, shaking, the golden locks glinting in the late afternoon light. Sakura knew she had been reaching, trying to find another excuse that explained just why exactly Sasuke had left them, yet, faced with that once more, it sat bitterly on her tongue, a small lump in her throat, like a pill half swallowed. It was one thing to be discarded for a sister, another to be left on the side of the road like garbage so Sasuke could gain power. No. That wasn't an easy thing to accept, even if Sakura had thought she had accepted it long ago. Sakura's hands slid behind her back, her grip tight and taunt, her back straightened, her gaze peering at the wall just behind Tsunade's head.

She was over this. She was older now, more knowledgeable, stronger. She wouldn't let her childhood insecurities hold her back... Not any more. That, she promised herself. As Sakura stood as still as a statue, Tsunade carried on, her gaze sliding to Kakashi as she spoke, eyes tired and dark rimmed from the countless nights of sleepless hassle.

"No, I don't believe so. By the accounts given by the survivors, she was quite mouthy, spoke in a foreign accent and before helping them escape, asked if they knew where the _'Uchiha lived'_. She also didn't seem to know exactly where she was, having asked what nation she was in to one of the survivors before dropping them off at the border of fire country. I believe, if this is in fact Uchiha Hari, she has not been in our country long, not if she does not know of the massacre, nor the whereabouts of the Uchiha compound, and is simply... Searching. That being said, if she does not know of the massacre, or Konoha, she does not know of the whereabouts of Sasuke-san, or-"

Before Tsunade could finish her thought, Kakashi cut her off, his voice bellying the tiredness that smothered and creased around Tsunade's eyes like an oil spill.

"Or the danger she is in by being in Otogakure. Hokage-sama, if Orochimaru finds out about another Uchiha, one capable of Mangekyo Sharingan with no affiliation to a village, or knowledge of this land, she is extremely-"

This time, it was Tsunade's turn to slick over Kakashi's thoughts, breaking him off with a sharp nod and a errant hand that ran tiredly over her eyes. Sakura didn't blame Tsunade, she had only just heard of this and yet she felt drained and ready for bed. Tsunade had been dealing with this for over a week, nearly two, and by the little pile of sake bottles Sakura could see spilling out from the half open, bottom draw of the Hokage's desk, the little carton of food left open on top and the creases in Tsunade's normally impeccable dress, the Hokage had not been sleeping, nor had she been home in perhaps just as long as this had been going down. No, her shishou's job was not one Sakura envied.

"Vulnerable? Yes. However, this is unfortunately not the only worrying factor. Time, I'm afraid, is not on our side. One week ago, when I had confirmed the reports given by the survivors of the base, I sent out a Anbu extraction team to hunt down and hopefully bring this Uchiha back to Konoha. They were met with... Hostility by Uchiha Hari, hostility I believe that has been gained by... Other teams that have been sent out to capture her. She engaged in battle with one of the Anbu, but according to him, it was really more of a push to get them to back off and managed to slip away by... Well, according to said Anbu officer, by turning invisible and then disappearing with a loud... _pop_."

Tsunade looked caught between either hysterically laughing, flipping her desk over in undiluted rage or weeping into the crease of her elbow. It was an odd mix to behold, especially on a teacher Sakura had come to think of as unmoveable. Yet, the look didn't stay long, not when Tsunade stood with a screech of her chair sliding against the wooden floor, the click of her heels stabbing the silence as she marched left, twirled and marched right, repeating the path over and over again, pacing, her eyes unfocused, lost to her thoughts as a lone finger came up to her chin, tapping along with her heels as she ranted to no one in particular, but Sakura felt like it was aimed at Kakashi.

Kami knows she had no idea what to say or do to ease the tension blanketing them, nor plan the course of action they should take. Sakura was a lot of things, good and bad she would admit, like all human's, but a leader, she didn't think so and after seeing the stress so evident on her shishou, she wasn't sure she ever wanted to be one.

"By the information given by the refugees and found by the Anbu team, Orochimaru has already been informed of this development and has sent out his own extraction teams to capture, or kill, Uchiha Hari, whether Sasuke-san knows of this turn in circumstances, or whether he is a part of giving the orders is unknown. However, what is known is Uchiha Hari, having no knowledge of this land, I believe thinks..."

Tsunade left the speech hanging in the air, like a dropped thread, waiting for someone else to pick it up and run with it. Kakashi, fortunately, unlike Sakura who had lost her own tongue since finding out Sasuke's twin was still very much alive, let alone here, now, did not suffer her same fate and finished Tsunade's speech for her.

"We're on the same side. This... This is a mess."

A mess was the last thing Sakura would call it. Calamity? Catastrophe? Crisis? Yes, they sounded more suitable to this situation than a simple mess. Back in the basement a year ago, still wearing her rose coloured glasses, Sakura had thought and truly believed all this could have been fixed by Hari's appearance. She would come, they would find Sasuke and then Sasuke would come home because Sakura had given him the thing he wanted most, family. Now, however, she had a very different view.

For one, it wasn't her who was giving Sasuke what he wanted most, this Hari-san seemed capable enough to find him on her own, but even more pressing, was Sakura knew the world didn't work like that. Sasuke had not come home for Naruto. Sasuke had not come home for his loyalty to Konoha. Sasuke had not come home for _her._ What hope did a sixteen-year-old missing sister have, something that neither she or Naruto had, that would bring him home? Nothing. She couldn't possibly have anything to tempt their missing team-mate back. This Uchiha Hari would just add another complication to an already complex situation. Still, Tsunade and Kakashi kept talking, as if she wasn't here, as if she wasn't one of the ones called in to consider this matter... _Why had she been called in?_

"As I have said Hatake-san, this is not the most worrying turn. Four days ago I received reports of a spotting of two Akatsuki members abruptly diverting course and trailing a path towards Otogakure and the last known and seen whereabouts of Uchiha Hari, and by all accounts, they are picking up speed fast. After her run in with our own team, she is believed to be injured, with this, having not only Otogakure forces tracking her but two unknown S ranked Akatsuki members, one that could possibly be, well, I don't think I need to say exactly who I believe is the one tracking her, and without the knowledge that we are, in fact, not on the same side..."

Sakura's blood chugged and froze in her veins, the implication of the Akatsuki's involvement loud and clear, even if the pounding of her heart was making it hard for Sakura to hear. _Uchiha Itachi._ There could only be one thing that demon wanted from Uchiha Hari, and that did not bode well for either she or Sasuke. Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura saw Kakashi's cheek clench under his mask, the only tell tale sign of the building stress and strain the normally laid back sensei was feeling. All of a sudden, Sakura needed air, needed to breath... Needed to get out and away from this oppressive atmosphere that kept getting thicker and thicker until Sakura was afraid it would choke her where she stood. When Kakashi spoke, Sakura had a hard time clinging to his words, but cling she did.

"We're in a game of chase. Not only that, but we have no idea of what Uchiha Hari predilection and loyalties lay. She has been with, if this is really her and she is still alive, the U~Izaido for over fifteen years. On the other hand, this could very well be a trap laid out by either Uchiha Itachi or Sasuke-san to draw the other out. If this is her, she could be acting hostile not because of other run ins, but because she is simply hostile to our race. This... This is a delicate matter."

Sakura's breath staggered in her lungs, turning to thick and moist fog, blocking her airway. In a burst of revelation, Sakura now knew why it was only her and Kakashi called into the office. They were the only two, apart from Tsunade, who knew the truth, a long-buried story lost over time and other heartaches. They were the only ones who knew of Uchiha Hari and the implications her survival could mean for them, for everyone. Still, even after growing up so much, even with her rose coloured glasses well and truly off and crushed under her feet, Sakura couldn't help but feel like Kakashi was wrong. If siblings had resounding and similar Chakra... Then twins would likely have nearly identical, having both shared the womb, chakra's blending into one another, becoming one. Would Uchiha Hari come all this way, searching, to come and make an enemy out of them?

"Or she could simply be looking for her family Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi's and Tsunade's gaze snapped towards her, pinning her in place from her muted outburst. However, weirdly enough, she could see the half smile Shizune threw her way from over her shoulder, looking almost... Proud. Swallowing down the urge to suddenly apologize profusely and shut the hell up, Sakura soldiered on, convinced she had it right.

"What... What I mean is... Well, she freed an Otogakure base didn't she? She helped them to freedom, brought them to our borders safely... She also, instead of engaging in a fight with our Anbu team, while having the Sharingan to back her up, chose to leave and run instead. By your own mouth shishou, the first thing she has asked is where the Uchiha are. This... This doesn't sound like the actions of an enemy to me. This sounds like a girl who is looking for her family and had the unfortunate experience of landing where she shouldn't have. We... We should... We need to help if that is the case."

Now it wasn't only Shizune who looked towards her with a appreciative glint in their eye, but Tsunade too, a smile slithering onto her lips and sticking their like a fly in honey. Neither did Sakura miss the upturn of Kakashi's lone, visible eye. Proud. They looked proud of her. Sakura almost wanted to preen. _Almost._ When Tsunade spoke, her voice was uncharacteristically warm.

"I believe you are right Sakura-chan, but it changes nothing. Uchiha Hari is an unknown, could-be-hostile, possibly confused and valuable individual. We are not the only ones tracking her, and I fear, if found by anyone else but us, it will not be a pleasant experience for her. She seems to be handling the Otogakure-nin fine, but the Akatsuki, along with just who one of those Akatsuki members could be? No, we need to act and we need to act now. Hence why I have called you two to my office."

Tsunade stopped her pacing, strolling around her lofty desk to stand at its graceful front, kicking back and leaning against the glossed wood. Sakura suddenly felt ominously like she had agreed to something she should have never even looked at, especially when Tsunade smiled at her like that and carried on unhurried, despite the meaning of her words.

"Sending out large numbers will only spook her further, perhaps push her towards Otogakure and the Akatsuki. Her reaction to our Anbu teams proved this to be true. We need friendly faces, but enough power to wrangle her in by force if her time with the U~Izaido has proven... Influential to her personality. However, if she really is just looking for her family, then we need people to show her we can help and explain. That we are on her side and not the enemy in this equation."

Kakashi must of heard something Sakura had not as he nodded.

"When do you want us to leave?"

Then it all clicked and that ominous feeling turned to a pit of squirming eels in the bottom of her belly, writhing uncomfortable. _No..._ Tsunade couldn't be talking about what Sakura thought she was, could she?

"Wait... Us? You want us to track her down and bring her back?!"

Sakura couldn't... She was needed here! At the hospital! With the influx of refugees, their own Shinobi needing care, with Naruto coming back and the plans that would need to be formulated to bring Sasuke home, they would need every medic available, she was needed here, not tracking down some roving Uchiha that could, or could not, be an enemy of them all! She needed to be here when the plan for Sasuke's retrieval was made, to make sure she was on the task force sent out... She had trained for this, worked till her hands bled and her bones ached for this, and now it was being snatched away to hunt down an Uchiha that had been presumed dead and missing for nearly as long as Sakura had been alive? It wasn't fair... It wasn't right! Tsunade's words only slashed deeper into the wound that was being inflicted upon her emotions.

"Yes. You, Hatake-san and Hyuuga-Neji, his Byakugan will prove useful if Uchiha Hari does show herself to be an enemy of Konoha, will be deployed by six this evening to begin an A class mission of an undisclosed amount of time, your first A-class, I believe Sakura."

Sakura snapped, her façade of stony indifference falling and crashing against the floor, breaking as fragile as spun glass.

"But, I can't! Naruto is due back and Sasuke-kun is who we should be focusing on, if-"

Tsunade chopped of her indignant rant with words as sharp, poignant and precise as a kunai aimed at the heart.

"Now, Sakura, I really don't have to explain the importance of this mission, now, do I? If Otogakure does capture Uchiha Hari, it will be for her eyes, another bind to tie Sasuke-san to Orochimaru, death or to replace Sasuke, leading to his own demise. If Akatsuki capture Uchiha Hari, it is either because she has proven useful and powerful enough to join their ranks, another enemy to add to Konoha's piling list, or because Uchiha Itachi has acted out of Akatsuki's interest to kill Uchiha Hari, another blow to Sasuke-san and another reason to push him further away from here than he already is and subsequently, further into Orochimaru's grip. Another wedge and obstacle for you to climb over to get him back. Now, if Uchiha Hari really is just looking for her family, then this could very well be the death of an innocent person who has fought to get back home, which I am sure was not an easy task seen as her captures were I~Izaido of all things! If it helps you complete this mission, then yes, this does have a lot to do with Sasuke-san, but complete this mission you will, whether you want to or not. A Shinobi does what they are ordered, not what they want to. Now, are you a shinobi or still that little girl Sasuke-san left on that bench?"

It was a low blow, to be sure, to be rebuked and admonished in front of her old sensei by someone she respected so much, especially the comparison to the younger her, a person she had hoped she had grown from, but it was what she needed to be dragged out of her near hysterics she had unhappily found herself swirling down and towards. Life, in all its gritty glory, was not fair and she should not expect it to be. Her shishou was right. This had just as much to do with Sasuke as his actual retrieval, and if this was how Sakura could help that come to fruition, then help she would.

Surely, when the time came, Naruto would wait for her before setting off? She hoped so... She really hoped so. Perhaps this was just another way to gain Sasuke back, if his sister was here, if he knew, if she told him the next time they saw one another, he would come home after finding out she was one of the ones to bring a part of his family back. Maybe then, she would finally be enough for him... Either way, come what may, it looked like she was on this mission whether she wanted to be or not.

"I'm a shinobi, shishou!"

For her efforts and enthusiasm, Tsunade gave her a brisk nod.

"Good. Go pack, I need a private word with Hatake-san before you leave. Be at the gate by six, I want you all on the road and heading towards Otogakure before nightfall. Go."

* * *

 **NEXT CHAPTER:** Hari's arrival in the Elemental nations, how she ended up at an Otogakure base and exactly how she's gotten mixed up in all this...

* * *

 **QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:**

 **When exactly is this based, time wise?**

This is set just before the first episode of Shippuden, like, really close. I hope that clears up the whole time frame of this fic.

 **Is Hari super powered in this fic?**

Short answer? No! I don't like fics where the main character is ridiculously powerful, to me, it makes no sense, there's no growth, no learning and why do the enemies even have a chance if Harry can punch a hole through the earth? THAT BEING SAID, Hari in this fic is not a weakling either, to me that is just as annoying. Hari has her strong points, speed, Genjutsu and her Chakra version of spells, just like her weak points, minimal strength, limited martial arts knowledge, complete lack of weapon training as well as normally fundamental knowledge most Shinobi know because she's grown up away from the elemental nations, leaving her out of the loop and naive in some aspects, it helps balance a character out and give her struggles as well as victories.

 **Is Hari going to be sassy?**

Hell. Yes. Well, I hope I've written her that way when we get to that point. To me, and for the Shinobi in this fic, it's going to be a bit shocking for them, an Uchiha with a sense of humour, one that looks like Sasuke but smiles and jokes, well, it's going to be a shock to their system and Hari's going to play on that. Itachi and Sasuke are also both in for a tongue lashing from Hari when the time comes.

 **Who is Hari going to met first, Sasuke or Itachi?**

I'm going to be honest here, I have no idea yet! So, if you would please do me an honour and drop who you think Hari should meet first into a review or P.M, you would be doing me a huge favour, plus I love hearing your guy's thoughts.

 **Why change Harry's name to Hari if it sounds the same?**

This is quite simple really, It sounds more exotic, as well as fitting in with her brothers. Sasuke's name is so old it's lost it's meaning, but is normally given to a samurai or Ninja, while Itachi means weasel. So, bouncing off from Itachi's name, I named my fem Harry Hari because it's Sanskrit and means lion, fitting, don't you think?

 **CHANGES THIS CHAPTER:** Well, if you read the other one, the change is pretty clear and big. In the other fic, Hari lands straight at Konoha with minimal trouble, while in this one, she's gotten unlucky and swept up into drama that's swept her off her feet. I also like in this one how she's ended up in Otogakure (To be explained next chapter) meaning she's so close to Sasuke, who she's searching for, yet so far away. Call me a masochist or sadist, I like a bit of a bitter bite to my fics.

 **P.S!:** I have no Beta, spelling/Grammar mistakes are likely to slip through, I'm sorry, it is what it is, I try my best but I'm not infallible.

 **A/N:** Once again, **THANK YOU** to all you fabulous people who have read, favourite'd, followed and you little stars that review, this chapter's for all of you! If you can, please spend a moment to leave a review in my empty bowl, my muse is a hungry little witch and your reviews keep her mood swings from getting out of hand. Until next time, stay beautiful! _~AlwaysEatTheRude21_


	5. What's in a name?

_...Tonbo... Tonbo... Tonbo..._

Hari blinked out of her daydream roughly, bleary eyed and reluctantly. Her feet padded against the loose, dirt road of the little village she had wandered into, lost beyond recognition, the sound of her thudding feet echoing the word that haunted her mind, plagued her dreams and ghosted along her thoughts. _Tonbo._

Ever since arriving in the Elemental nations, whether it be because she was close to an actual home and family, geographical or emotional, her brothers; she swore she could feel them sometimes, like phantoms hovering just on the outskirts of her peripheral vision, or something more deeper, visceral, she didn't know, what she did know was she was having those dreams again, hazy summer dreams of soft voices, laughter, hers, someone else's, giggles, open ponds and dancing dragonflies, chubby hands reaching for the jewel coloured insects, only to be picked up and pulled away by a smiling boy who always flicked her nose affectionately, tickled her belly, calling her Tonbo as he hugged her close and walked away from the pond. The hole in her chest when she inevitably awoken throbbed harder each time, and the dreams never left, not even with the sun high in the sky, always in the back of her mind, always there.

Still, she had done it, she had arrived in the Elemental Nations in one piece. It took her a while to get there, a week of planning in Japan and five full days of constant rowing from a rickety boat that was hardly bigger than a canoe, but she had done it. At the time, arriving in Japan, she didn't dare ask for help, knowing the hostilities and ex-communication held between the two races, it was up to Hari to get herself there lest she wanted to be stopped before she even began her search. So get there she did, numb and tingling, sore in all the wrong places, sweat drenched and covered in sea-salt from an unfortunate dip or two into the sea from the rocking boat, she had docked upon the rocky shores and made for the tree line, collapsing against the nearest and safest looking tree to sleep her pains and aches away, ready for a brand new day.

She hadn't taken much with her, just the clothes Hermione had made for her, the same black armless turtle-neck, the same trousers that fit more like leggings, the same sandals from that land of dead where she had seen her parents, but instead of a silver vest, she had a deep red wrap skirt, one side slightly longer than the other, two symbols emblazoned on the bottom hem that Hermione had lovingly placed on. A memento. A reminder. A promise. The past and future clashing clandestine together.

The deathly hallows, reminding Hari of her friends, the pain, the love, the loss but also her insurmountable victory, a reminder of where she had come from and who she was, her past. By its side proudly stood the Uchiha fan, a promise of family, hope, laughter, her future she so verdantly wanted and the woman she would become. That little gesture had meant more to Hari than she could verbally or comfortably communicate.

Hermione, bless her and all her foresight, had also given her something Hari had desperately needed. Two innocuous looking leather cuff bracelets. However, they did what she still couldn't, no matter how hard she tried. Suppress her Chakra signature. The book didn't go into much detail about the state of the Elemental nations, but it did raise a few alarms bells. Wars, rogue-nins, bounty hunters, the list was too large to feel relaxed.

Going around with your Chakra signature out was the wrong thing to do, and seen as Hari couldn't lower it herself, Hermione had made something that had, to keep her safe. The only downside was Hari had barely enough Chakra left while wearing them to run, let alone anything else. But the risk was worth it if it meant not getting caught up in another war, or ambushed by a misguided felon.

She had also packed her book that had gotten her this far, a charmed hip pouch that had been extended to carry all her things, a photo album consisting of her friends, Sirius, Remus, Lily and James, some food, a first aid kit and the photo of her family that she kept folded and pressed to her chest in a hidden pocket in her shirt.

Still, Hari didn't complain as she pulled out a roll of gauze from her first aid pack, bounding her forehead and hand thickly. Scars got you noticed, you could track people from a scar and all Hari wanted to do was travel in peace. The more peaceful her travels, the faster she would go, the faster she could go, the closer she got to her brothers quicker, a tiny anecdote and hazardous map in her book the only thing guiding her. It seemed so close now, too close almost. It set her on edge, wrung to life long thought of dead nerves, static taking up pace in her blood. Would they recognize her? Did they even remember her? Would she be greeted like she hoped she would be, with smiles and warmth or frowns and a slammed door? Would she be greeted at all? Fifteen years was a long time, a very long time for something bad to have happened.

Sometimes, at night, as she laid beneath another tree to try and drift into slumber, the seemingly only living thing in miles, staring up at the starry night through a break in its branches and leaves, gave Hari that little wedge of peace and confidence she couldn't find in sun-rays and blue skies. For, as she lay there, breathing, alive, watching those little bursts of starlight dance and glow, she knew somewhere, on this very land, her brothers were standing beneath the same sky and perhaps, just maybe, staring at the very same star she was. Welcomes and greetings didn't matter when looking at the bigger picture. She had family that was alive, who according to her parents, needed her help.

Not once did her determination waver. Not once did she regret her decision, regardless of how much she may miss the people she had come to call friends and surrogate family. She knew she could find them, The Uchiha, she knew she could get there, she just had to keep on pushing. In the meantime, whilst she searched, she would get stronger, she would learn about these Uchiha's from her book, the little amount it told her, she would fling herself to her limits and then an inch over each day.

Itachi and Sasuke had grown up with this, they had been raised and bathed in it and when Hari finally found them, for she would, she didn't want to be standing in their shadows. She wanted to stand at their sides, like a real family. Every scrape, every bruise, every blistering step, every headache, every time she flopped onto the grassy floor, unable to move from over exertion was worth it, falling asleep because she couldn't do anything but that. It was worth it if it brought her closer to her brothers. Her twin.

She didn't know whether it was her pure stubborn determination or the actual hope for a true family that was pushing her along each day any more. Maybe a bit of both. All she knew was if god himself came down, showed her the entrance to the underworld, pointed into the smothering darkness and told her that her brothers were down there, you could bet she would dive in before he had finished his sentence.

Perhaps that was why she was so strong willed in finding them, because they were her _brothers._ Hari had been denied a family since she could remember, and like a starving lion, when the prime cut was dangling in front of her mangy maw, she pulled and strained against the chains of her limitations and snapped at it like a beast with rabies.

With them... With Itachi and Sasuke... She had somewhere to belong. She had a home. She had hope. She had a family. Something she had watched when she was knobbly kneed, drowned in Dudley's clothing, with coveting eyes as other children disregarded or completely ignored their own blessings. Something her friends had taken for granted. The one thing she had always wanted but was just out of reach.

 _But it wasn't any more._

Hari had given her life for her friends. For her family?... She would give so much more. What worried her was what could possibly be more to her than her own life? So, when the days grew tough, when she began to dwindle low on food, resorting to scavenging, when her body felt like giving up from the harsh training she put herself through day in day out, when she felt like she was going in circles in this forest that knew no bounds and seemed forever endless, Hari simply pulled that little photo out and looked. Reminding herself of why she was doing this with just one glance.

Perhaps that is how she ended up wandering through a small farming village, her feet plodding against the small road that cleaved the village into two. She was exhausted, aching, low on food and supplies and this tiny cluster of houses and crops was the first sign of civilisation she had come across since crashing upon the shore. Hari may have been a leader, she may have defeated death himself... Twice, she may have luck on her side, she may be a fighter, but navigator? A navigator she was not.

She had no idea where she was, neither where or if another village was remotely close and so, faced with the unknown, Hari had decided to slink into the village to hopefully restock and sort her inner compass and finally, hopefully, start heading in the right direction rather than wandering in circles, which she felt was exactly what she had been doing. She swore black and blue she had slept under the same tree that very morning that she had slumbered under three days prior.

However, apprehension and worry seized her with each new foot she walked into the little village, turning her gaze hard, her eyes slanted, her nostrils flared and teeth clenched. The village folk were... Well, she hadn't expected to be greeted with roses and chocolates, that's for sure, but neither had she been expecting to be greeted the way she had. Every time she passed a villager, be them just working the field, pulling along carts of hay or recently cut away crops, or simply standing by their little circular wooden house doors, they all reacted the same.

They caught one glimpse of her, their skin turned a pallid grey and Hari was greeted with a slammed door or a hasty retreat way before she could ask them if they knew where the shop was, or if there even was a shop around here. That was not a comforting salutation to receive in a foreign land, especially when one was as lost as Hari was.

"Excuse me, do you know where-"

 _Thud._

Hari sighed deeply, reaching up to scrub at her tired eyes with harsh fingers, grimacing at the recently slammed door before deciding to make her way back down the hobbled path to the main road of the village. After countless passersby had scurried away from her like she had a deadly contagion, Hari had taken to knocking on the doors of houses she passed, like some sales-rep pushing a dubious product from door to door, hoping to get another reaction then the one being shoved into her face repeatedly.

Yet, here she stood again, another door closed on her face, this one nearly skimming the skin of her nose. _Bastard._ She was getting extremely fed up. Was it because they could tell she was a foreigner? Was it her accent? Could they tell that she had been raised by wizards? Would her brothers have the same reaction to her? Merlin, she prayed not. She didn't know what she would do, apart from being emotionally crushed, if her brothers caught one look at her and simply turned their backs on her.

"No one is going to speak to you little lady."

Hari paused, frozen, a few steps away from the house she had just pounded her fist against, gaining another upsetting rejection that echoed the fear of her brothers rejection, when the voice rang out from behind her. Slowly turning to face over her shoulder to her left, where the voice had come from, Hari hoped she had not imagined the withered, husky tone. Thankfully, she had not.

A neighbour to the house Hari had just visited, a house very much like all the others, made from crude wood haggled together with bent nails and rope... Actual rope, with rounded, thatched roofing, sat an old woman adorned in clean, worn, beige dress that had seen better days, perched on her house's door step, pipe suckled between two slithers of lips, wrinkles of golden hue telling of a long life lived in the sun, white hair pulled sharply away from her face into a plethora of plaits and tarnished beads. The little woman, for she was little, minuscule even sitting down, reminded her of Mcgonagall... If you added a good fifty years and a lifetime of farm-work to her.

"And why wouldn't they?"

Hari debated whether to leg it or not, or crash under the unexpected emotion that rode over her at the woman's words. This was the first time anyone had spoken to her since she had arrived in the Elemental nations and what should her first opening conversation be... _No one is going to speak to you._ Outsider. She was an outsider again, never to belong. In spite of Hari's darkening thoughts, the old woman surprised her by plucking her pipe from her mouth, billowing out a cloud of thick smoke before slapping her knee and coming to a stand, seemingly shouting the first part of her rant at the closed doors around them, at the deserted road, with a voice that could rattle bone and shake teeth free.

"Because they're all chicken shits! Every single one of them!... Come on then, don't just stand there gawking, come in, have a cup of tea and some hearty food, take the weight off your feet, you look travel weary girl and I'm not going to pick you up and carry you if you pass out in the open. Chop, chop, I'm old, Kami knows I could die any second now."

And then the lightening storm of a little woman with thunder for a voice doodled into her home, leaving her door wide open for Hari, mindlessly waving Hari in with a flick of her creaking, thin wrist. That was... Yet again, not what Hari had expected. She supposed, if this village was to be taken into account, she would have to get used to surprises.

Glancing in front of herself, to the open road she had been travelling down with no sense of direction, Hari steeled her spine and swivelled, marching to the open house. What other choice did she have? She had been in the Elemental nations for a while now, and this was the first person to even look her way, let alone offer a drink and conversation. Beggar's can't be choosy, and if, despite the warm feeling Hari got from the woman, turned out to be false, she could always bolt for it.

Sliding into the house, Hari was greeted with... Rustic simplicity. Well, that would be the politest way of speaking about the little house that looked like a yurt. The floorboards were warped, a lone bed with a leg missing was pushed up under the lone window of the small, round house, a open hearth with a crackling fire pit stood proudly in the middle, an iron kettle teetering across a bar over the fire, heating the tea inside, underneath the kettle was a large pot, propped up by a make-shift spit, blackened and crusted at the bottom from years of use, something delicious smelling bubbling away in it's pot-bellied depths.

Around the fire were four, threadbare, thin pillows... Seats, one Hari smiled kindly and took after the old lady waved a hand over to one of the pillows while she brought out two chipped cups and wooden bowls from a small cupboard on the wall, using a holey clothe that had singed corners, to pick the kettle off the bar it balanced on, pouring the steaming liquid into a cup, giving one to Hari as she used the large ladle in the pot to stir the contents.

Hari took the cup, but winced slightly as the hot tea cup sizzled against the tips of her fingers. Still, when the old lady gave her a raised brow, almost mocking, Hari smiled wider, blew on the tea and took a sip, sighing contentedly as the thirst she had gained began to wane. It really was good tea, floral, herbal but with a sharp, sweet twinge to its flavour that dissolved to a sour after-note, like a burst of cinnamon and lemon wrapped in one. However, it was another oddity to get used to here, their cups didn't have handles...

"Just a few more minutes and the stew will be ready. My name's Masaki... You can't take it personal you see green-eyes, their reaction to you. Not many Shinobi come here... And the ones who do, well, let's just say great loss always follows their visits."

Seeing no table to put her cup of tea down on, Hari politely kept it in her hands, looking deep into the amber liquid, heat prickling her fingers, her reflection staring back. That too, her own god-damned reflection, was mocking her. She was no shinobi, she didn't even know where she was. From the little she knew of Shinobi, from her book, she highly doubted they got so lost they couldn't even tell you what village they were in... Or nation. Merlin, she was never going to find her brothers if she couldn't even find herself.

"I'm not a Shinobi."

The old lady, Masaki, scoffed at her, pulling the ladle free from the pot to accusingly point it at her with a jab, as if the ladle was a sword and not a utensil. Still, Hari found herself stiffening, reacting as if little Masaki was brandishing a weapon at her, face grim. Hari had been right, this little, unassuming woman was a lightening storm wrought in human form and was a big enough girl to admit this Masaki more than slightly terrified her.

"Yes you are, I may be old, but do not take me for a fool green-eyes. My eyesight may be going, but I still see how you hold yourself, how you walk, how you talk, how you look around you, ready, waiting. You're a shinobi alright. Yet, you do not wear an Otogakure Hitai-ate, which leads me to believe you're not one of _Them._ And if you're not one of them, then you're welcome in my humble home any time."

Masaki went back to stirring her pot, grumbling underneath her breath as she did so, but Hari found her words lingered in the air, as pungent as the smell of her pipe smoke, cloying in her throat. Hitai-ate... Those were the headbands weren't they? Then, that means Hari was in this Otogakure... Wherever that was. However, most worrying, was exactly what Masaki was saying. From her book, Hari had gathered Shinobi were like Wizarding Auror's, policemen if you will, upholders of law and justice. But... That didn't fix with Masaki's words, nor the villagers reaction to her for thinking she was a shinobi. They had acted scared, they had ran from her, she, who they thought was a shinobi. Why would they act scared of the person or people meant to protect them?

"One of them? I'm guessing _they_ are the shinobi you mentioned? I thought... I was taught Shinobi were warriors, protectors of a village, why is everyone scared of them?"

Masaki's eyes, which had until this point, been watery dishes of large sky blue, turned dark and bleak, like the sky right before a rainstorm, foggy and hot. Hari idly placed her cup down on the floor beside her, hooked into the conversation completely, frown plucking at the middle of her sharp brows. What the hell had she walked into?

"Shinobi may be protectors in other villages, other nations, but here? In Otogakure? They are a scourge. A vile infestation that come and snatch away our loved ones, take our children from their cradles... No, you will find no protectors here. Where are you from to not know this? Your accent... I've never heard it before."

Hari's guard slammed up around her, thick, iron walls to hide and obscure her secrets. If... If this was the reaction to shinobi, the supposedly good guys the book had described, then what would Masaki's reaction be to wizards and witches? A reaction Hari didn't want to see in the least, that was for sure. Less she want to be chased out of this village by a mob of pitchfork wielding angry country folk.

Hari's tone was blank when she replied, still, calm, like the surface of a mirror, nothing really housed inside it but what you, yourself, put in its face. Let Masaki make what she will out of it. Hari, despite the short time in her company, had come to like this woman, this little tornado, she didn't really want to see Masaki trying to burn or or chase her out for something out of her control. _After all, she had not asked Dumbledore to kidnap her._

"I'm from a nation far, far away."

Masaki gave her a sharp glance, weariness crinkling at the edges of her face, pulling her wrinkles tight. Hari swallowed. It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the truth either and Hari, well, she despised lies and liars. Idly, her hand reached over to her other hand, thumb brushing over the scar that was hidden beneath the bandage. Umbridge had not only done a number on her hand that day, she had also gotten a leg over on Hari's already, at the time, fragile psyche. Now, well, now, even if Hari only thought about lying, she swore she could feel that cursed quill tearing and scarring her flesh all over again.

 _I must not tell lies._

"Well, young lady, if I was you, I would turn back and run far, far away back to where you came from. It's not safe here, not for Shinobi. You need to get out while you still can."

Hari's jaw twitched, frown deepening. Nothing was making any sense... The book had said there were many like her, so many that they over populated the civilians here, Uchiha numbers ran so high, they were a clan themselves, they had their own compound, unlike Wizard and muggles, a contentious point that the wizards had not liked at the time of the books writing. Hari was hit with an idea that only spiked her worry. The book was old, very old, so many years had gone by, things could be different here now, so different that they were unrecognisable. Perhaps putting too much stock in an old book written by a biased wizard was not a smart move, one Hari would have to remedy as soon as possible.

However, to remedy her knowledge of this place from a none biased point of view written generations ago, she had to have knew knowledge of the Elemental nation to replace it with, meaning she had to dig a little deeper and find out exactly why Shinobi were loathed here in Otogakure, and perhaps not the other nations. What was different from this place then all the other nations?

"But why isn't it safe? I thought... I was told there were many like me here."

Masaki's eyes grew bleaker, more cynical and Hari wanted nothing more than to wipe the look from her face. Masaki had an air of boisterousness around her, an old stubborn driftwood tree standing tall on a pebbled beach, light and bright like the sun. To see that look in her eyes, so down-trodden, beaten, like a injured dog, it didn't sit well in Hari's gut. Other peoples sadness and hurt never had sat well with Hari but the world was the world and pain existed and so, she would play witness to it sometimes.

 _She couldn't fix everything._

Masaki finally began to fill the bowls with the hot, bubbling stew, plopping a spoon in each as she handed a filled to the brim bowl to Hari and kept one for herself, sitting down beside her on the cushions. Nevertheless, Hari's hunger and thirst took back seat in her mind as Masaki began to talk, her voice low, broken, jagged.

Hari couldn't stop it, her hand reached out, palm landing on bony shoulder as she offered all the comfort she could through touch, noting the woman was too thin, too frail. Hari's heart sank when she realised just how hollow the woman's cheeks were, just how dark her under eyes were, just how she could see the old ladies spine through her dress. Hari had to repeat a mantra in her head as her heart palpitated.

 _She couldn't fix everything!_

"There may be many in other nations, but not in Otogakure... Not any more. I told you, _t_ _hey come... The Oto-nin._ Our village, the one you're in right now, used to be filled with Chakra-wielders and Shinobi alike. My own father, a long time ago, used to be just one of them, so was my son and grandson. Then the Oto-nin began to come, they came in force, rounded up any who could wield Chakra and took them. No one knows where, no one knows why, but the ones taken never come back. Now, every few years, when our numbers have swelled again, when new babes are born who can wield chakra too, they come once more to coop our people."

Hari's tongue went dry, thick and heavy in her mouth, a useless piece of meat stuck between teeth and bone. They... They were culling the chakra wielders here? Like livestock, they let them grow, let the numbers rise, then came in and took the juicy calf's? Why? What were they doing to them? How many had fallen victims... Generations, at least four by the sound of it. Merlin almighty, how where they getting away with this? Why was no one stopping these Oto-nin? Masaki seemed to gain her bearing as Hari's hand slipped from her haunched shoulder, coughing roughly before speaking again.

"It's... It's been many years since they last came, since they took my son and grandson from me. The villagers are weary, on edge, it's time for another coop and they have not shown face yet, they think the time of coops are over. Then you came, a shinobi, a chakra wielder, and many believe you are an omen for the Oto-nin, that because you are here, they will come for us. Silly morons. The Oto-nin come when they come, _someone_ from our village must tip them off when a Chakra wielder is born or here, sold out by one of our own. The only way to truly stop this is to stand and fight, but our numbers are low, too many with deaf ears, our people old, no shinobi, no Chakra wielders..."

 _She couldn't fix everything..._

Bile rose up Hari's throat. Hari, herself, knew what it felt like to be sold out by one of your own, many who had fought on the order of the phoenix's side in the wizarding war did. It was one of the worst feelings imaginable, the betrayal, the bite of treachery, the lack of trust in others because if one could sell you out, surely others could. Merlin dammit, she had been sold and given to people to be used since she could remember, Dumbledore had raised her to _die_ , so, yes, she knew that feeling all to well.

Masaki got distracted, her trembling hand coming up to a beaded necklace around her neck, fingers lovingly brushing the broken seashell crested on the front. Hari, seeing the toll this conversation was having on the world worn woman, welcomed the distraction for a moment, something to take both their minds off the horror of what Masaki had disclosed. So, Hari asked her about it, hoping to bring out happy memories.

"Your necklace?"

 _...She... She couldn't... She couldn't fix everything..._

Unfortunately, the necklace wasn't a happy reminder of sunnier days at all.

"My grandson has one just like this, the other half of the seashell... Two peices that make one, a way so no matter how far we drifted, how many seas separated us, we would find one another in the end. I promised to take him to the ocean one day..."

 _She couldn't fix everything... But she could damn well fix as much as she possibly could. That was who she was._

Yes, Hari had raging hero-complex, she would be the first to hold her hands up and admit it. Yes, some said she had a bleeding heart, her reply, she would rather have a bleeding heart than no heart at all. Yes, this made her easy to manipulate, easy to mould, but in the end, when all was said and done, it was Hari who stood tall and said she had given it her best, did the right thing, gave people second chances when no one else would and stayed true to who she was. What more could anyone ask of her?

 _Itachi has the skill... Sasuke has the will... But Hari has the heart._

Her parents had told her that in the opaque, ethereal land she had visited when she had died and they had been right, you couldn't live without a heart. Straightening out, Hari reached beside her to pick up her cooling tea, gulping down the liquid in one go before tucking into her meal. She would need the energy. In truth, she would need everything she could possible get, and then some for what she was planning. After scoffing down her food, manners thrown out the proverbial window, Hari smiled brightly as she turned to the bewildered woman, winking as she spoke.

"...And you will. Do you know what direction they took the prisoners?"

Masaki floundered, a bit of stew gravy dribbling down her pointed, saggy, chin as she tried to grasp what Hari was getting at, her voice escalating the longer she spoke, the words coming in short bursts of incredibility. In the end, if the roles were reversed and Hari was the one alone, old and haunted by the memory of her family that could possibly still be alive, she hoped some spunky, slightly idiotic, lost person would stumble through her door and help her gain back what had been brutally taken.

"Excuse me? No... You couldn't think of... It's dangerous girl! The only reason I told you this was for you to run, to escape while you could! It's suicide!"

Hari tried to hide the wince that wanted to come out to play. She had ran before, when Voldemort had hounded and tried to hunt her down, holding out in woods and forests, and in the end, Hermione and Ron had nearly been killed for it... Dobby _had_ been killed for it. No. Hari was done with running away, she had been done with that since she had faced down Tom Riddle in the courtyard of Hogwarts.

Plus, if Hari was completely honest with herself, she should have seen something like this happening. She was Hari, and her luck, while normally coming out on top in the end, always managed to put her through the wringer in the mean time. Could she live with herself if she turned away from Masaki and these people who needed help, could she really turn a blind eye when so many had done so to her while she had been growing up and she had loathed them for it? No, she couldn't and wouldn't. That wasn't who she was.

"Listen Masaki, if it wasn't this that I would get swept up in, something more strange, hazardous and extremely life-threatening will come along and pull me in. Trust me, this isn't my first suicide mission and I doubt it will be my last. Now, which direction?"

Masaki shook her head, even as Hari came to a stand, the beads in her hair twinkling and clinking like a wind chime. Masaki stood too, eyes dashing over Hari's form, gaze landing on Hari's skirt, sight locked and honed.

"You don't understand... You're an Uchiha aren't you? The fan on your skirt, you hair and skin... It's not hard to tell. If it's dangerous for a Shinobi or Chakra-wielder to be in Otogakure, then for you, for an Uchiha, it's down right murderous. You need to escape. Villagers already speak of an Uchiha in Oto-nin's midst-"

Hari's voice sliced through Masaki's, her determination to go only solidifying into tungsten when the name Uchiha was brought up. Were they captured, like the others? Were they still alive? Was it one of her... No, it couldn't be. What were the chances of it being one of her brothers there, and if there was a chance it was one of her brothers, would she really want it to be if what Masaki had told her was true? The horrors they could have faced, have faced, if still alive, because Shinobi and Chakra-wielders weren't being taken for a fucking tea party, that was for sure... No, she prayed it wasn't one of her brothers captured, and that, that made her a little bit sick to her stomach, realising she would rather it be another innocent Uchiha, or person, rather than her brothers. What did that say about her?

 _It said too much._

Still, there was a rumour that an Uchiha was amongst them, and that was her only lead to her brothers, so she would take it like a dragon guarding it's egg.

"They have an Uchiha? Then, all the more reason for me to go. Please... If I can help, even just one, I have to."

The old lady sighed deeply before catching Hari off guard with a hug that housed hidden strength in her glass bird-like bones. Masaki pulled her close, whispering in her ear, finally folding her cards, perhaps in hope that Hari really could find her grandson. And Hari would try to do just that, by Merlin, she would try, for if she was willing to cross the world, races and nations to get to her brothers, than this woman deserved her own family by her side. Perhaps she saw a little bit of herself in the elder.

"East. The Oto-nin take them directly east from the south border of this village. Please be careful-..."

Hari pulled away, realising she had never given the woman her name. To Hari, and while not to many people, names were extremely important to her, almost covertly so. Names held power, names made or broke a person. Just look at Voldemort and Tom Riddle, to Hari, they were and would always be two separate entities. Tom Riddle had been the lost, abused, unloved orphan, Voldemort was the soulless monster he had became.

Her own name? Hari's name, since she was a small child, had always been a big part of her life. To the Dursley's, her name, at the time Potter, had been used to segregate her from them, to divide her from them, to alienate her further from her muggle surroundings. Another thing to point out how she was a _freak._

Entering the wizarding world at the tender age of eleven, her name had either been spoken with reverence or poorly concealed derision, too much stock having been put in to such a simple word, so many lives balancing on her last name that turned out, in the end, to not have been her last name at all.

During the war, her name had been stripped from her, taken, taking a large part of herself away with it until she was just a weapon, a ghost, an imaginary person to many that would either swoop in to save them or damn them. Back then, people didn't want to see her as a person, for if they did, perhaps they would have had to think how they had put so much onto the small shoulders of a barely teenage, malnourished girl. So they had saved themselves from the guilt, they had pseudonyms and unearned titles deposited upon her. Saviour of the wizarding world. Undesirable number one. Girl-Who-Lived. Girl-Who-Wouldn't-Die. The list went on.

But that was then and this was now. Now, when she knew the power a name held, how it made you feel, how it made others feel and after all she had been through, all she had seen, all she had lived through to tell the tale, Hari now knew who she was, what she was and she knew her name.

 _...Tonbo...Tonbo...Tonbo..._

She was Hari Uchiha, Tonbo, and while she couldn't fix everything, she was brave enough to try.

"Uchiha Hari, but you can call me Tonbo."

Masaki gave Hari a sort of melancholy smile that reminded Hari of the tea she had drank, sweet at first with a flutter of cinnamon, but with a sour bite at the end of lemon. With a goodbye from Masaki, Hari left into the fading sun, heading east and towards an unknown destiny. However, now she knew who she was, and really, as long as you knew that, you could never really be lost.

"Be careful Tonbo, and may Kami smile down upon you and your kind heart."

* * *

 **NEXT CHAPTER:** Hari infiltrates an Otogakure base that has unforeseen consequences and has her first fight with Shinobi... Unfortunately, it won't be her last...

* * *

 **Questions & Answers:**

 **Is Itachi and Sasuke going to be in a relationship with Hari?**

Yes, they are. I did put a warning in the description of this fic warning of Uchihacest, after all, Hari is their sister. However, if you didn't know this, take this as fair warning: THIS FIC CONTAINS UCHIHACEST. Turn back now if this isn't your cup of tea!

 **Is Hari going to be a Solo player in the grand scheme of things, or will she put her loyalty to a village/organisation?**

The way I have Hari in this fic, or where I'm trying to get her to, is she's not a 'for the greater good' kind of person, in fact, she despises it. Living with what Dumbledore had done for the greater good, seeing the lives ruined or gone because of it, having her own life stripped from her for the bigger picture, I picture it putting Hari off this whole line of thinking. She's also too focused in on her brothers and the idea of family to really give her loyalty or support to anyone but them. (Konoha and the villages will remind Hari of Dumbledore's mindset, and this is not going to be something she will like or agree to/with)

So yes, in the bigger picture of this fic, you could say Hari is going to be a lone player in the game. That being said, she will visit other countries, she will run into well loved characters and that includes Konoha but, a little hint of what's coming up, it's not exactly on her terms that she ends up in Konoha and that's all I can really say without spoiling too much. However, even if Hari is operating on the outskirts of the villages, she is not joining Akatsuki, I can say that for certain. Their beliefs, ideals and goals do not line up with Hari's own thoughts and beliefs/goals. That's not even talking about what Itachi would think/do about it, especially with 'Tobi' around.

So, in short, Hari's gotten tired of everybody thinking they can control her, has put her middle finger up and basically told them all to fuck off, she's doing her own thing. (Or, at least, she will do when the time comes)

 **What have you done to Sakura? You've made her delusional!**

Right, well, where do I start with this and why I've done what I've done. This fic, while having plot (Danzo, the massacre, finding her brothers, Orochimaru and the problem of wizards vs Ninja's that's going to come bubbling to a head, keeping her brothers from killing one another and alive in general) it's a lot more character focused than my other fic. That means, I'm focusing more on the characters and how they develop. To have human characters, they need flaws.

As for Sakura, I think we can all agree her biggest flaw is her obsession with Sasuke, and that's canon people, you can't argue with it. So I highlighted it in my fic, so when she does begin to mature and actually grow up, you can see the effects, why's and how's. It's the one of the main things I didn't like about the ending of Naruto, how Sakura started off obsessed, vain (Cutting her hair to save her life and her team-mates made her cry for fuck sake), arrogant, abusive (especially towards Naruto) and she started to grow from that, only to revert straight back in the end, abandoning all that character growth, and frankly, to me, becoming one of the worst characters in the Naruto-verse.

I mean, this is the same character who obsessed over Sasuke, still wanting to get with him, after he tried killing her... Numerous time. This is the same character who, no matter how kind or helpful Naruto is, berates him, hits him and calls him names, yet the man who keeps trying to kill her, Sasuke, is the love of her life. This is the same character, who while knowing how Naruto feels for her, uses that, manipulates it, to lie to his face, saying she loves him too, one of the things he's been waiting to hear since he was a god damned child, so Sasuke can be killed. I mean, at one point, she plans to kill Sasuke, the supposed love of her life, with a poisoned dagger... A POISONED DAGGER. If that doesn't shout out delusional... What does?

I mean, even for Naruto, who has been there for her since the very beginning, she doesn't abandon her obsession over Sasuke, so I hardly see her hearing about this twin and wanting to help her out of the goodness of her heart without the thought of how Sasuke would see her coming into play. I mean, she abandons her first real friendship, her first friend Ino in hopes of getting Sasuke, if that doesn't speak volumes, I don't know what does. In Naruto, especially in the beginning Sasuke _IS_ her endgame.

However, in this fic, I'm trying to divert from that course, I'm trying to make Sakura be the Sakura she _could_ have been if she had matured and grown up a little, the same with all characters in this fic, but to do that, I have to point out her obsession over Sasuke so she can overcome it. The same with other character, including Hari, their flaws are going to be pointed out. So, while some of you may not have liked this, while some of you will stop reading this fic because I've done this, I can't say I'm sorry for it.

With all that being said (Sorry for the rant, I'm just trying to express my thoughts and where I'm coming from seen as some of you got so angry, so please stop blowing up my P.M box with flames XD) this fic isn't about Sakura, it's about Hari, and while she does come into this fic, the focus will never really be on her. I hope hat explains why I've done what I've done. I think, honestly, last chapter is the only Chapter in this whole fic that solely focuses on her P.O.V

 **Who is Hari meeting first? Sasuke or Itachi?**

This ones simple, with resounding unanimous replies, it's Itachi. :)

 **Notes on this Chapter:**

Having Hari believe the Uchiha mentioned was captured and not a part of the group doing the capturing is intentional. I wanted to highlight her naivety, her bad habit of seeing the best in people despite not knowing them, (One of her flaws) as well as build up to the heartbreaking revelation of when she finds out just exactly who it was and their role in the whole thing.

Trust me, when she finds out the truth, it's not going to be a nice experience for her, as well as build up to the showdown I have planned between Sasuke's and Hari's first meeting (It's explosive). I want Hari and Sasuke to sort of mirror each other, both having an affiliation to snakes, Hari's Parseltongue, Sasuke's summons, both being/had being hounded by an immortality obsessed snake man who plans to take over their body at one point or another, however, every choice Hari fought against, Sasuke chose.

The same, yet, completely different. Hari was given Parseltongue forcibly by being made into a horcrux. Sasuke chose his summons. Hari was made into a horcrux against her will, Sasuke had chose to take his curse-mark willingly. Hari fought and finally killed Voldemort, fighting him at every turn, Sasuke chose to follow Orochimaru for more power.

So, yes, I want to lay out their lives are very similar, eerily so, despite growing up apart, yet every left Hari has taken, Sasuke took a right and when they do meet, when Hari comes to see this, it is going to hurt her that bit more to see her twin do what she had refused to do. Think ying and yang, I think it fits them as they are twins and their Chakra's are blended (More explained on that in later chapters).

However, while Hari's life course and Chakra may land sideways with Sasuke, I also wanted to draw similarities between her and Itachi, which become more prevalent in later chapters. He, was after all, the first to call her Tonbo, a name she's adopted in this fic. (Their need to do the right thing, no matter the cost to themselves.)

 **I have no Beta at the moment, but hopefully, fingers crossed, I'm in the process of getting one so you won't have to put up with the few spelling/grammar mistakes that slip through my fingers!**

 **A.N:** THANK YOU ALL. REALLY. Every single one of you are the very best. I can't stress that enough. The followers, the favourites, the reviewers, if I could hug every single one of you, you bet I would. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and the ones to come, until then, can you do me a huge favour ? _*Insert puppy dog eyes*_ Drop a review, let me know what you are thinking, inspire me! (Yes, I'm greedy, I have to keep the muse fed somehow don't I? ;))

Until next time, stay beautiful~ _AlwaysEatTheRude21_


	6. Find the Strength

The main problem with being born a Chakra-wielder but raised a witch was, to Hari, the arduous switch back. It was like having been born left handed, but having that left hand, since birth, bound and strapped behind her back, forcing Hari to use her right to write and do tasks with and then, all of a sudden, after years upon years of using her right hand, strengthening it, building it up, Hari's left hand hand been cut free.

Of course, her left hand felt more natural, more fluid, it was mother nature after all, it had been the hand she had been _born_ to use. Hari knew, given enough time, her left would be better than whatever her right hand could have possibly done no matter the time limit, but in the mean time, from point A to point B, the road to getting to that end was harder than she had expected, the lines are too sharp, too straight, too prominent and strong, yet the curves were bent and fragile, almost transparent.

In this metaphorical bubble, Hari had not actually swapped hands, but it fit well with how she felt between trying to hone her Chakra abilities and the feel of a glossed wand in the palm of her hand. In other words, her Chakra Jutsu's, the ones she had begun to master, came out stronger than any derived from a wand, yet, some she had perfect control over with her wand, fizzled and popped unsatisfactorily. It all lead to one very high, very dangerous cliff Hari was balancing on. Her Jutsu's and their strengths were, for the time being, out of her control and the only way to gain control over them, the only way to get stronger, was to not use her wand, it was to flex and exercise her 'left hand'.

And right now, that cliff edge she was teetering on, was never as prominent nor terrifyingly tall to her as she crouched between the branches of a barrelled oak tree, the doors and blocked white-washed wall of an underground base in the clearing in front of her... Watching with slanted eyes as two, armed to the teeth, shinobi patrolled and guarded the black, rectangular door to the hole in the ground.

To be fair, it had not taken her that long to find the base, three days, especially once she realized those little tingling feelings in the base of her skull, scratching at her conciousness, tugging her in a direction were, in fact, Chakra signatures. So, when looking for a base that had captured Chakra-wielders, Hari had inevitably followed the Chakra once she had figured out what that pulsing feeling was and ended up here... In a tree and now those few little dots that had danced in the back of her mind had turned to a full out forest fire blazing from the unseen depths of that base.

Just how many Chakra-wielders were in there and how many would she have to face to break the rest free? Hari wasn't sure she had faced worse, unknown odds before, especially without back up or someone to watch her six and the only way to find out what the actual odds were was to actually get inside the base. But first... First she had to deal with the two Shinobi outside and that left her to her originally problem.

Use her wand and have an easier time of it, but ignore all the effort, training and likely have a set back on her already limited Chakra control, or take the risk, have her first fight without her wand in hand, a comfort she had grown all too used to, boost her skills in using the Chakra she was born with, the only way to get better at it was to keep trying to bend her Chakra back to the way it was supposed to be, how it was supposed to be used, put the tireless hours, weeks and months self training to use... And risk her either immanent death or capture. _Oh, what a brilliant set of options to choose from._

Now, Hari had upsides these Shinobi couldn't have, say, her Parseltongue, but she was reserved in using it. Snakes, as stereotypical as it was, were not trust worthy, _at all._ They were greedy, self-serving, slithering bastards that would rather sell you out if it came down to it. They beguiled you into thinking they were on your side, but they soon showed their true intentions, when the time fit them, of course. The only reason, Hari believed, Tom Riddle had such a repertoire with them was because, in the end, he was one of them too. _More snake than man._ Snakes were oddly loyal... To their own kind.

If, for one moment they thought they would benefit better by selling you out, leaving you to die, or full out lying to you, you could bet they would in a heart beat. Plus, during her travels, it was a lot harder than many believed it to be to wander across the path of a wild snake, and if you miraculously did, managing to talk to it without it slinking off before the hello left your lips, and if you did get that far, you couldn't really ever trust what they had to say or tell you.

So, yes, Hari was hesitant to try and find a snake around here to talk into sliding into the base she was eyeing up, so it could come out and tell her what could possibly be a lie about how many she had to face down there. The icing on the cake was that snakes seemed to naturally dislike her. They could smell no Slytherin blood pumping through her veins, their own blood mingled with a human, yet she could speak their language. To them, she was a 'unworthy usurper' of a 'legendary bloodline'. Could you really blame her for her hesitancy?

Hari sighed deeply, reaching into her hip pouch to pluck out her wand, rolling the wood in her hands back and forth a few times, indecision warring away inside of her, before jamming the stick into the top-knot bun she had pulled her hair into. If this turned out to be a full out battle, which Hari had a sneaking suspicion it was going to evolve that way, she didn't want her wild mane of hair getting in the way. She was going in, she would use her Chakra to the best of her ability, and if it came down to it, last resort, she would revert back to her wand. Shoulders squaring, Hari's green eyes blinked and smouldered to crimson, just as she snapped off the Chakra suppressing cuffs, hastily shoving them into the safety of her hip pouch. Wasting no time, Hari jumped into the clearing.

 _Game on._

Before her feet could hit the ground, hands sliding into practised steps and symbols, Hari sucked in a deep breath, cheeks billowing, pooling her Chakra into the very pit of her stomach and lungs, churning, burning, heat rising higher and higher. Just as sandals dented grass, knees bent, Hari let loose the bubble of magma inside her, watching as a fireball billowed out into the air, shooting across the clearing, engulfing the two Shinobi's whose gaze had zeroed in on her since her bracelets had come off. _Hit first and hit hard._

Still crouching, waiting, breathless, Hari watched as the fireball sizzled and burned, engulfing the spot they had been standing in, right in front of the door. _Was that it? She at least thought... Nope!_ Hari dived to her right, barely missing the kunai that would have expertly pierced her heart if she had not moved in time, the sting of a thin, shallow cut springing out from her upper arm. Bracing her feet, Hari skidded to a stop, surveying the damage she had caused.

The door was gone, nothing but thick smoke and ash coasting along on the breeze, half the wall encasing it was crumbled too, a suspicious bundle of black, charcoaled sticks piled at its base... Bones. However, the other Shinobi, a medium, wiry muscled man of tanned skin and spiky, green hair, a vicious burn mark, red raw and bleeding, trailing from under his right eye all the way down to his crisped, blackened shirt, stood ready and away from the door, facing her dead on. One out of two wasn't bad... But now she had lost the element of surprise and the growling Shinobi looked positively pissed.

"Do you lack common sense little girl? To so brazenly attack one of Orochimaru's bases? You'll pay for this!"

Hari watched as the man snarled, filing away the name Orochimaru for retrospection at a later date, when her life wasn't on the line. He reached for the gigantic, and she really did mean gigantic, throwing star strapped to his back. _Stall!_ Side stepping slowly, Hari let a lazy smirk take up her face, distracting from the hand she had hidden behind her back. Her Jutsu's were uncontrollable, especially when she mixed them with spells, some stronger than they were supposed to be... But she could use that. Balling her fist behind her back, Hari concentrated, hard, her mind chanting a word over and over again, forcing the Chakra into her hand, building it, adding more and more to the tight ball.

"I'm sorry, what I lack in common sense, I make up for in sarcasm and I have no time for idle chit-chat right now. My schedule is packed, shinobi to kill... Bases to break into, you get the gist, right? Or do I need to draw you a diagram?"

 _Shit, she meant to stall, not piss him off further!_ The man yanked his star free and just as he curled it around his body, ready to send it slicing towards her, Hari slammed her hand out, up to the sky, like throwing a ball, flicking her wrist like she would her wand if she were holding it, praying this would work, that her Sharingan would be able to fight through the light and let her see while, hopefully, her opponent could not, letting go of the Chakra she had built up in her fist with a bang that rattled the trees.

"Lumos Maxima!"

The world around them burst to white, wiping out the landscape, the building, the smoke, the sky, the ground, everything gone... But not the Chakra. Hari could still see in this blank canvas, if you could call it that, the Chakra of the man who had been ready to kill her, a haze of murky green, a lot like the colour of his hair, an outline, a ghost, a phantom in the white landscape she had painted. She could also see the Chakra of those who dwelled in the building, a kaleidoscope of multi, waving and flaring colours, giving her a stable point to mark her position from. She heard him yell, saw his ghostly form reach for his eyes, falling to one knee and Hari wasted no time, dashing over to the kunai that had nearly killed her, skidding onto one knee and out outstretched foot, bracing, or where she thought it was, patting the ground a few times to find it in this white-world, her fingertips brushed metal.

Just as colours began to come back, the Justsu/spell hybrid fading and dying, just as everything began to take the form it should do, just as the man dropped his hands from his eyes and stared at her, meeting Sharingan that he had not spotted before due to the distance between them, eyes growing wide, Hari threw the kunai with skill gained from years of throwing and aiming spells, watching as it slide home through his widened, frightened eye with a squelch and a spray of blood, his body dropping to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut.

Hari stood shakily, blinking rapidly, not quite sure whether the tremor to her muscles was either from the strain of the hybrid Jutsu, or worse... Because she had killed someone... Two people... She had killed _people_.

 _No!_ Hari violently shook her head, a curled lock springing free from its bun prison, tickling her chin. She had known she would likely have to kill people, and yet, she had came all the same. Unfortunately, from the Chakra she could still see from inside, she would have to kill more. These people took innocents, they locked them away and did merlin knows what to them... And possibly to an Uchiha, in the grand scheme, how she felt about herself and her actions, regret and guilt and self derision threatening to choke her, was nothing compared to what leaving them here to rot would feel like. So fight she will, kill if she had to, but free them she _would._

With renewed determination birthed in near death, blood and fire, Hari's eyes hardened, her resolve solidified and Hari sloothed towards the broken entrance, plucking the kunai from the body, stashing it in her skirts pocket, through the smoke that still clung to the air, her hand, the right one she had used for the Lumos aching slightly, unused to the burst of Chakra she had expelled from it, fingers cramping unpleasantly. With one last deep breath, Hari picked up a thin log at her feet, using a still crackling bit of fire scorching the earth to light the end and delved into the darkness of the gaping mouth of the underground base.

* * *

Hari swallowed thickly as she closed yet another door, her rage only growing stronger, deeper, un-containable with each new horror her eyes gazed upon. She had not ran into anybody alive yet... But she had ran into bodies. Boxed rooms piled high with broken and torn limbs. Torture rooms of stone slabs with bodies laid bare on top, chest cavities open, organs missing, strange symbols carved into skin... Their eyes wide and mouths open in an unending scream, telling Hari they had not necessarily been dead when they had been strapped to the table. Long labs filled with huge, cylindrical glass containers of glowing green liquid, yet again, bodies suspended in the foreign substance, lost, dead, gone.

Now... Now Hari knew the horrendous truth of what happened to those poor souls who were taken by these... Monsters. Monsters, because no matter how hard Hari tried to rationalise what she was seeing, distance herself from it, guard herself from these appealing actions, she thought no human could do this to another human.

 _Human experimentations._

Hari had to re-steady herself, re-align the anger to something useful before it ate her from the inside, all guilt or regret from earlier, from killing those people outside was gone, replaced with disgust and scorching hatred. She wasn't here to get revenge for the poor people who have fallen victim, no matter how much she wanted to hunt down the people responsible for this and make the face their own method's, she wouldn't. She would find the people trapped here and make damn well sure nothing like this would happen again.

Pulling away from the closed door, Hari's sandals clinked against the frigid, stone slabbed flooring, the sound ricochetting down the dim, narrow hallway she found herself skirting through. It was when she was halfway down the hallway that she felt it. The tugging in the back of her mind, the awareness that someone like her was around became a full out yank, pushing her down a twisting corner and through another hallway. This place... It was like a labyrinth of tunnels, dank, moist nooks and crannies where nightmares came to die, the only light being her torch that she gripped with white knuckles. However, unlike the other hallways, this one had no doors, just bars, rows upon rows of iron, rusting bars.

A hand shot out from the darkness, icy fingers curling around her ankle, grip strong yet, somehow, implicitly weak. Hari jumped a little, Sharingan swirling as she bared down upon the hand, peering through the darkness and little light her torch bubbled around her. It was a man, early twenties, eyes sunken, lips thin, gaunt beyond recognition, lush, red hair nothing but matted clumps clinging to scarred face and forehead. He was staring at her, eye's of pale grey that struck a cord of recognition in her and pupils wide, dressed in nothing but rags and that's when she noticed it.

He only had one arm, the one holding her ankle, the others were gone, brutally sawn of in disjointed angles, wounds left open to fester in this clammy atmosphere, necrosis having long set in. Hari felt sick, vile, the room of piled limbs pushing to the forefront of her mind and thoughts. He tried to speak, but his voice was too feeble, to warbled to make any sense of.

Hari crouched, propping her torch up against the bars. He seemed to try and wiggle closer to the heat, his eyes closing in bliss. However, with the added light, his look only got worse. He looked dead already, a corpse to haunt the living world left to degrade and turn to mush still trapped within his body. _She was going to be sick._ He spoke once more, but was cut off by a hacking cough that seized his entire being, well, what was left of it.

"I know those eyes... I thought you were him... Have you come here to finish what-...Kaff! Kaff! Ack!"

Hari fought down the wave of confusion, as well as the anticipation that buzzed in her chest. She reached down to the hand on her ankle, prying it free, but with gentleness he had likely not known in a very long time, she held his hand, trying to warm the digits with her own body heat, rubbing at the skin, half afraid it would peel of in her own grasp. It was so loose from his bones.

"Take it easy, breath, just breath... That's it, breath with me... I'm not here to hurt you. Him? Whose him? Is he the one who did this to you?"

His coughing came to a stuttering stop, a splatter of blood dribbling from his broken toothed mouth, dropping to the floor underneath his head in little drops that echoed far louder than they should have. He looked at her again with those milky eyes and Hari's heart broke, chiefly because his hand squeezed back with all the strength he had left, which wasn't much, as if he was afraid if he let go he would leave this world too.

 _Monsters. Vile, inhuman bastards._

"Uchi-... Uchiha... Sasuke...No... Not him... But his mast-... Kaff! Kaff! Kaff! Ughhhhh."

Hari heard a scuffle in the darkness of the room the man resided in, telling her he wasn't the only one inside. Mindlessly, her hand tightened around his, the name jarring all thought of escape or murder from her. She couldn't help it, she knew she should be focusing on this man, his pain, the people likely trapped in the same room as him, but he had said Sasuke... He had said he was here and from what she had seen, being here was no better than being in hell. _She was close. So very, very close... If she left now..._

"Uchiha Sasuke was here? Is he still here? Is he hurt?"

Sasuke... That name wasn't common, and the man had said she looked like him, like Sasuke _._ He was her twin, of course they would look similar. However, what are the chances he would be here, here in this hell hole? Her parents had said they had needed her... Sasuke and Itachi needed her. Was this why? Had they been captured? Was he here, hurt, bleeding? Alone? Cold? Dammit... Was he in one of those rooms, hidden beneath those bodies and mountains of limbs, had she overlooked him... She was going to vomit. She was going to pass out. She was going to tear this place down brick by fucking brick, tie the people responsible for this to the pyre and watch them _burn._ The man regained his bearing, his eyes rolling in their sockets, dazed, voice croaky, broken.

"Gone... North... North..."

 _Focus!_ Sasuke wasn't here, if it was even her Sasuke to begin with. Sasuke could very well be a prominent name here, like smith or Jane. If she told it herself enough, perhaps she would believe it and then finally, she might be able to breath again. Even if it was, Sasuke wasn't here any longer, and if he was, she couldn't leave these people, not here, not in this state... These ill-fated people were here, now, and they needed her help.

This Sasuke was gone, but they were here, she was here and she was going to get them out. Pulling herself away from the man, taking her torch with her, heart shattering that bit more when he floundered for her grasp, Hari scoured the bars for a door, and with Chakra control and skill she did not know she had, likely fuelled by her anger, yanked it clean free from the bars and its hinges, dropping it behind her with a loud clank.

The room was worse than she had thought, people, so many people were huddled together, crammed like sardines, trying to stay warm... Some weren't moving and Hari's gut sank when she thought she knew why. As soon as she stepped in, they dissolved into the corners of the room, pushing into the brickwork, trying to disappear, heads hung low. They thought she was going to hurt them, that she was like the others. Tears crested on her eyelashes, but stubbornly refused to fall. She needed to be strong, _they_ needed her to be strong, for them, to get them out of here. As soon as they were free, oh, they would be free alright, she was going to burn this place to the ground!

A wet cough snatched her attention, and as gently as she could, she dashed over to the man who had grabbed her ankle, the people in her way parting like the sea, afraid, scared, alone, abused, hurt. Her knees took the brute force of the punishing blow as she dropped to them next to the man, softly cradling the man's head as she shifted it to the soft padding of her lap, fingers brushing away the lank locks of hair fused to his face, neck and chest. With his red hair swept away from his face, neck and shoulders, Hari caught sight of the red beaded necklace around his neck and she knew where she had seen his eyes from. A lump lodged itself home in her throat, breath leaving her lips in small huffs.

 _A red beaded necklace with half an egg blue seashell._

"Hey... Hey, it's going to be alright. You hear me? I know your grandmother, Masaki? Yeah, she's waiting for you, you know. So you hold on for me, alright? You hold on because she's waiting to take you to the ocean. Trust me, you don't want to go before you see it. It's so blue and wide, stretching as far as the eye can see, peaceful and beautiful and-"

He started coughing again, so violently it shook Hari too. With her Sharingan activated, she knew how useless her speech was. She could see his Chakra flickering, nerves and channels going out one by one like a city wide black-out, his core jittering like static. With the very last of his strength, even as he heaved and coughed and bled, he reached up to his necklace, pulled it off and placed it into her hand, closing her fist over it with his own. He was dying, and in her lap was not only him, but Dobby all over again. Then he was Sirius, he was Fred, he was Angelina, he was Lily and James and there was nothing she could do.

She tried, by merlin did she try to conjure a sea and sunny beach and pull him into her Genjutsu, to ease his suffering like she had with Dobby, to full-fill just one last wish, but she was disorientated, his visage changing to everyone else she had failed to save and before she knew it, in her arms, in the dark, maltreated and torn, he died. Hari did the only thing she could think of, she closed his eyes with a soft sweep of fingers and gently laid his head to rest on the ground.

She wasn't upset. She wasn't hurt. She felt no need to cry. She felt no numbness or regret. No, what she felt was much worse. _She felt uncapped fury._ The beads of the necklace embedded into the soft skin of her palm, and after a long and hard look at the necklace, she crammed it into her hip pouch. Snatching her torch back up from its discarded position next to her, Hari stood tall, taller than she had ever stood before. Whoever was responsible for this, every single person who had a hand in this, would die. She would slit their god-damned throats and watch as these halls turned red with their blood.

But first, she had people to save, Masaki's grandson was not the only one here, and it would be over her dead body that another would fall to his fate. Hari regarded the people around her, the tickling feeling at the base of her skull becoming a fuzzy pins and needles. People were coming... three or four... South-West side. She had to hurry. Darting to the door, Hari peered out and into the darkness, turning abruptly to the group of huddled people closest to her.

"Can you stand?"

Silence and weary eyes greeted her and Hari's jaw twitched. She had no time for coaxing or gentle gestures, _they_ had no time for it either, not if they wanted to escape. The group heading towards them were coming in fast, Hari's hand was still cramping and she knew she had gotten lucky the first time, having taken one Shinobi out from the get go... Three or four? She knew she wouldn't stand a chance, not while she had to simultaneously protect these people too.

"I'm... I'm not here to hurt you. Those who can stand, help the ones who can't... I'm getting you out of here but if we're to actually escape, we need to leave. _Now._ "

Hari took two steps out of the room... No one moved. _Shit, shit, shit!_ They were close now, too close for comfort, they would be upon them soon and no one was moving and if they didn't move in the next three minutes, Hari would have to pull a rabbit from her non-existent hat to pull this off. Hari twirled, staring into the dark room she had just vacated. She may not be able to see them, but by the heat of her skin, she was sure they could see her.

"Look, I know you're hurt but I promise, I'm not here to hurt you. If I was, surely I would have done so by now. I know you're scared, I know you're frightened, but Shinobi are on their way here right now, the same Shinobi who have either done this, or let this happen to you and I can't fight them off while you stay here in harms way. I can't promise a picture perfect life if you follow me... I can't promise all of you will make it, but what I can promise is this, as long as I'm still standing, I will fight and you _will_ feel the sunlight on your skin once more. Can you say the same if you stay here, in this... This pit? Would you rather die fighting for freedom, or experimented on and locked in a cage? So please, now is the time to be brave, to stand and help one another. I can't do this on my own, I need your help. So, one last time, for those who are willing to risk today for a better tomorrow, stand with me, those who can walk and have strength, carry those who can't, fight for those who can't fight any more and as one, we might see the sunrise."

Everything was silent, dead, still, then, out of the darkness came a little boy, blue-haired, thin, with a missing eye, but with a smile that could chase any Dementor away. Another joined him, a man, and another a woman, and another, and another until people were all she could see, some being carried, some leaning against another and some... Some standing tall. Hari smiled breathtakingly.

"Good! good... Right, you need to move and move fast. Follow this hallway down that way, until you reach a cross road. _Take the left!_ okay, the left, remember that. Follow that hallway, take no turns, no diversion, follow it until you see sunshine, once you do, _leave._ If you pass any rooms like this one on your way, ones I've missed, free them and take them with you. Remember, follow this one down that way, take the left, and follow it until you see the sunlight. Get to the woods but stick together. Give me... Fifteen minutes, if I'm not out by then... Run and don't look back, okay? What are you waiting for, go!"

People began to shuffle and jog passed her, going in the direction she had pointed her torch in. A hand tugging on her skirt made her gaze snap to the young boy... The first one to step out of the darkness. His lone eye was wide, watery and his bottom, split lip trembled.

"What are you going to be doing? Will you come back? I'm... I'm scared. I don't think I can be brave."

Hari's heart melted, despite the lack of time, despite the Chakra signals zeroing in on her position, their position, Hari knelt down so she was eye level with the small lad, placing a placating hand on his shoulder, a burly man with a scar running down his face in a zigzag formation stopped beside them, watching.

"I'm going to cause a diversion. Hey, don't cry now...Want to know a little secret? I'm scared too. But I was once told by a very wise-man, when we're really afraid, that's the only time we can actually be brave. You can be brave, I know you can, okay? But I need you to go now and I'll try to get back, but even if I don't, you carry on being brave, alright? You carry on and you get as far from here and these people as you possibly can. Stick with the others, because, you know, I think they're scared too and maybe you can make them brave for me, yes?"

The boy smiled that clandestine smile once more, gave a sharp nod that fluttered his hair and dashed off. Before the man with the scar could follow him, a smile playing at his lips too, a brother, father perhaps due to their similar colouring, Hari grasped his elbow, pulling him close to whisper one last direction before she left to meet the Shinobi head on.

"If... If I'm not out in time, head west. There's a village you will come across. Find a woman called Masaki... Tell her Tonbo sent you. She'll help you the best she can. Until then, break out as many brethren as you can and fly like the fucking wind. We haven't much time."

With a jilting tilt of his sturdy chin, a keen glint in his eye and a rumbling 'good luck Tonbo-sama', the gargantuan man was gone down the same way the people were trailing. Luckily, it was the opposite way the Shinobi was gaining on them. Steeling herself, Hari pulled out the kunai she had stolen and stashed earlier, and with one last glance backwards, a reassurance of why she was about to fight... Why she would kill, she took off, running towards an outnumbered, out-powered and out-skilled fight.

* * *

Hari laid in wait, smothered in darkness, back pushed flat against the corner she was lurking around, torch long since doubted, hand clenching around the kunai. She could hear them approaching now, see the light coming down the corner from their own torches, hear their steps getting closer... three sets. She had been sure it had been four heading her way, though, she wasn't complaining at this change of circumstance. However, she could still feel the people behind, the way she had came, still not far away enough to not be caught.

 _Bloody hell._

She needed the Shinobi to head in another direction, she needed to divert their course and there was only one way Hari could think of by succeeding in this endeavour. _A juicy game of chase._ Although, to do just that, she would loose the element of surprise, she would have to show her face, she would have to make them chase her away from the group. Who was she kidding anyway, they likely knew she was here, right around this corner, they could most probably feel her own Chakra signal from a mile away, especially with her cuffs off. So, really, hide and seek wasn't going to work out from the get go.

Only when she could distinctly hear the clack, clack, clack of their sandals, did Hari move into action, sliding out of her hiding spot and straight into their line of fire. Two men and one woman, two with swords, the men, one with an array of kunai and sharp, small stars strapped to her chest and thighs, paused at her appearance, hands going straight for their weaponry, eyes not greeting hers at all. They new she had the Sharingan.

 _Her ace card had gone up in flames._

"Hey, fuckers! Hope you don't mind, you left your door unlocked and I let myself in. Fancy a little game of chase? Tag, you're it!"

Hari risked her luck, throwing the kunai at one of the men, only for the woman to leap into action, knocking her kunai of course with a well aimed throwing star. Hari didn't wait to ponder this, nor try and plan her next move, she knew already what that would be. _She ran._ She ran fast... But not as fast as she could have done. She needed them to follow her. When she heard their pounding steps, all three sets, gearing towards her, tearing through the space separating them, Hari's heart jumped to her throat, and only when she had taken them far enough North-East, the complete opposite direction to the escaping victims, did she begin to _really_ push her legs.

 _Speed was her greatest strength._

Zipping around corners and alcoves, they must have clocked on she was gaining speed, and in so, distance from them as Hari went to take a right, only to take a faltering, sharp left when a kunai barely missed her head, spearing the wall in front of her, cracking stone. She had no daggers, no weapons, her only one lost back there, limited Chakra training and lost in a labyrinth of tunnels and shady corners with three blood-thirsty Shinobi on her tail. Yes, Hari was pretty sure that was death himself sitting on her shoulder, waiting the inevitable... Again, the greedy bastard. The next corner Hari took, she wasn't fast enough, not for the blonde woman's throwing star, as it lodged home in her thigh, tearing and skewering the muscle.

Hari stumbled into the wall with a pained grunt and harsh crash to her shoulder, something popping disgustingly from her joint, she heard something snap, not bone... Wooden as her head took a hit too, but she hardly had time to pay attention, her speed lost, distance slowly dissolving, bleeding. _It wasn't over yet, not until her body was frigid and rigor-mortis had set in._ With her Chakra draining, Hari summoned up as much as she could spare, filling her lungs with fire and flames, turned, and blown it out in a straight, wide torrent as the Shinobi skidded to a stop behind her.

While the fire ate away at brick and, hopefully, flesh, Hari braced herself, she only had one last trick to try but as her stance shifted, her leg gave out under the pressure, earning another grunt from her clenched teeth. With shaking fingers, Hari reached down to the protruding star, grasped as hard as she dared to and with a snarl, yanked it out and free. When the fire died and the smoke began to clear, Hari could see two bodies, burnt and crispy on the floor, the other... There was a a shield of mounded earth where she once stood.

 _Three... Two... One... Bingo!_

The 'shield' was a lie, a trick to make Hari think the other shinobi was hidden safely behind it, but she wasn't. Hari could see her Chakra, could feel it, it wasn't in front of her... It was behind. Just as the woman behind her went to leap, dagger raised, Hari span, Sharingan flaring and the blonde fell to her knees, dagger clanging against the floor from her slackened grip... Eyes locked with Hari's.

"I... I can't move... I can't... How...Your eyes... You're all supposed to be dead..."

Hari's breath was haggard, her heart pounding. She was loosing blood and fast, the star must have hit an artery, not a main one, but one large enough to warrant such blood loss, blood loss that wouldn't make her pass out, but would make her disorientated, weak, vulnerable if left to leak any more than it had.

Hari reached up to her bun... But her fingers only met hair and air. Panicked, knowing she was low on Chakra, Hari looked around her, down to her feet, spotting something long, wooden and currently in two peices at her feet where she had smacked into the wall... Her wand. The wooden snap she had heard, the small sparks, her wand was broken, her fail safe was gone.

She had no more weapons, her Chakra was disheartingly low and now her wand was broken, gone. The sight of it there, cleaved in half, discarded on the floor, broken, hurt more than Hari thought it would. That wand had been with her since she was eleven, it had been with her through war and pain and loss and now it was gone. She felt naked. However, now was not the time to dwell on lost things, not when she had an enemy Shinobi mere feet in front of her.

Hari limped over, pausing to bend down and pick up the woman's serrated dagger. The metal was hot, it must have caught a quick blast from the fire, scorching her hand, but it only made her grip tighter. Gazes still locked, Hari stood over the woman's kneeled form, placing the edge of the hot, heavy knife to the woman's bared throat. Yes, she had lost her wand, but the people here, they had lost their lives, lost their basic rights, lost family members, home, security. Her wand was nothing compared to their loss and so, for the mean time, would take back burner until she at least gave them back the security they deserved.

"Death doesn't come easy for me... Unfortunately, the same can't be said for you or your friends. This... This is for Masaki's grandson."

And with a swing of her arm, a push of the dagger, the woman's throat split open, spilling forth a wave of red down her chest, some even splattering against Hari's own chest and neck. The Genjutsu held until she stopped flailing, until her chin sank to her chest in a flop, and then Hari let it go, watching as the body slid to the floor. Compared to the deaths they had given others, gruesome, drawn out tortures, this woman had been lucky. _They all had._

Running a tired hand down her face, Hari limped over to her broken wand, gingerly picking up the two peices, and carefully put them into her hip pouch. Perhaps, somehow, there would be a way to fix it. Gritting her teeth, stomping down the urge to cry, for the poor people she had seen, both dead and alive, for Masaki's grandson, who never got to taste freedom again, for her broken wand, another little bit of her life from the wizarding world gone, snapped, Hari got down to business. The escaped Chakra wielders would be gone by now, long gone hopefully, but that didn't mean Hari wanted to stay here any longer than she had to. She was injured, weapon less and bleeding. She didn't think she would survive another encounter.

But first, she had to stem her bleeding leg. Pulling out the last roll of bandage from her pack, Hari tore the long piece in two, saving the other half for later, because knowing her luck, she would bloody need it. However, as she had just tied the last knot in her bandage to keep it secure around her thigh, tight enough to press painfully in the wound, but to also stop the bleeding, she missed the quite creak of the Shinobi behind her, one who had stayed out of the battle until last moment, gathering intel on the intruder, stealth being his strongest suit. Using his own kekkei genkai, he blended into the wall, pulling himself through halfway, so only his torso and arms hung out into the open. Slowly, quietly, he unhooked his own weapon, a mean chakra draining chain that lead up to an end that resembled that of a pick axe without the wooden handle.

With her back turned, in pain, weakened, Hari only had the warning sign of a whistling wind, the sound of something being swung through the air, to prepare herself, though, a lot of good it did her. She had been right... It _had_ been four she had felt. Hari _screamed_ a yell that sounded more like a war cry as the pickaxe tore through her shoulder, embedding home through her muscle, tendon and bone, _hooking in._

The chain wrapped around her, pinning her good arm, the one currently not having a pickaxe in it, nor the hand cramping, and with a yank, Hari fell to her back, her head knocking into the unforgiving stone harshly, spinning the world around her as she was dragged towards a Shinobi... Hanging half out of a bloody wall! _Was that even possible, where the hell was his legs?_ Without thinking, Hari raised her cramping hand as far as she could, as far as her bummed shoulder let her and while the man laughed sickeningly, Hari yelled.

"Bambarda!"

The blast rang out, booming as the wall caved in on the Shinobi, bricks and boulders crashing down upon him as he was thrown back, squishing him, his own shout and scream nothing compared to the bellow of Hari's as her hand seizured, pain of which Hari could only describe as a blazing crucio flaring from her arm and splintering through her being. She pulled the limb to her chest, rolling onto her front, as if it would help ease the pain. Still on her front, breathing staggered, lagged and harsh, Hari kneeled, only just managing to wiggle free from the chain encasing her.

She didn't dare try and remove the pickaxe and loose chain still attached to her, the chain having snapped off from the rest attached to the dead shinobi from the Bambarda she had fired, afraid she would bleed out, possibly die if she tried to remove it herself. Still, the pain had nothing on what-the-fuck-ever happened to her hand and arm. Finally, she pulled her hand away from her chest and looked at the damage done.

Her veins... No, not her veins, her Chakra network was imprinted on the skin of her hand and half her arm, trailing towards her chest, a red spider web that danced across the skin, bruised, the limb itself was shaking violently. _Why was it like that?_ Her network, it hadn't been used, not often in her life. Without her wand, the wand she had used to channel her Chakra, a well known outlet to her body, a dampener so to speak, without it, she had expelled the Chakra through her hand, through her skin, through a network she had hardly used before. She had pushed to hard, like running on a sprained ankle and her network had taken a beating for it, making her skin look like a bruised, stain glass window of deep blues, purples, yellow and greens.

She... She had never used her full network before, the one Hermione and the book said spread throughout her entire body. She had only ever used one pathway, from her core to wand tip, or pathways she had already been practising on, strengthening, like her fire-Jutsu. The rest of her network, she guessed, wasn't mature enough, not strong enough to channel and release the amount of Chakra she had pumped through it.

She had been stupid, reckless and now... Now she couldn't use that arm for Chakra wielding until it was fully healed, lest she wanted to damage it further, perhaps permanently this time. Dammit, she knew she had to take it easy, to take baby steps before she could wield Chakra like the book had told her was possible, until she got to the same level she had been when she had thought she was using magic and wand... Wand. Fuck. Now she was down a wand and a fucking arm. She had pushed too hard and now she was paying the price for it. She had no weapons, hardly any Chakra left, her wand was broken, her arm buggered for at least three weeks, her thigh needed a stitch or two and that's not even talking about the merlin damned pickaxe currently lodge in her fucking shoulder!

And Yet... And Yet, in doing so, in taking this beating, in taking these blows, she had saved innocent people. Could she ever really regret that? _No._ She would have taken a lot worse if it had of meant they would have never had to have gone through this in the first place... And damn, she would take on hell itself if it meant her brothers were okay, healthy and happy. Plus, she had learned her lesson. One step at a time, no rushing.

And that's exactly what Hari did. Bleeding, injured, sore and weak, she picked herself up off the floor, leaned against the wall by her good shoulder and with one step in front of the other, walked. She needed to get this pickaxe out of her shoulder, she needed to fix her leg and arm, but first she had to get out of this hell-hole.

* * *

 _Huff...Huff...Huff...Huff..._

Hari nearly dropped to her face as the heat of the sun kissed her skin, as finally, her slow steps brought her out of that dank hole and back into the real world. She had made it, she was outside... She was falling, her legs had given out. Before she could crash, a set of strong arms, thick, heavy with muscle, swooped under her knees and around her waist, picking her up. Hari's green eyes, Sharingan long since failed her, blinked a few times before the blurry face of her carrier came into view. Scar crossing over one eye, down and curving around his chin, zigzagging, blue hair. The little boys relative... The little boy who was currently standing next to them, hands ringing in front of him, bouncing on his feet. Around them, out of the tree line came more people, more survivors, more than she had freed. They must have found more rooms.

"Tonbo-san, you're hurt!"

The little boys voice was... Odd, something she hadn't picked up back in the base, too focused on getting everyone out alive. It sounded like overlapping people, two speaking at the same time, one a little girl on helium, the other a grown man who had spent his life smoking forty a day. Hari licked her cracked lips, trying to gather the strength to speak, to move, to stand, but she could hardly lift her head at the moment. When she did speak, the first part was aimed at the worried jolting boy, the last at the man carrying her towards the tree-line and the group of people.

"I'm fine, nothing a bit of rest won't fix... You were supposed to go... Why didn't you run like I told you to! There could be more Shinobi in that base, they could have came for you... They could still come for you!"

The man glanced down at her, a teasing smirk etched onto his face. If Hari had the strength, she would slap it right back off again. Thankfully, she didn't and when he retorted, the shot of indignation turned to a warm, fuzzy ball that sat cosily in her chest.

"You didn't leave us behind... We refused to leave you behind. Now, are you going to keep yapping or are you going to let us help fix you back up and get that axe out of your shoulder?"

Hari shook her head dazedly.

"We haven't the time to fix anything. We need to move. I doubt only six Shinobi were in that base, or in this area, it's not safe to stop. We need to head west, there's a village there-"

The man, burly bastard as she had come to mentally call him, cut her off, gently placing her down at a base of a great tree... The very same tree she had jumped from this morning. Hari grunted as her shoulder and arm flared in pulsating pain.

"It's not safe there, many of us come from that village, they will only find us again, and when they find out we have escaped, because they will, the village will pay the price for housing us. No village here is safe. And, for the last time, we're not leaving you behind. We stay until you're fit enough to move, or at least fit enough to move you without the threat of you bleeding out and dying. Yuji! Come here! Any person that has any Chakra left and have earth release, people who are not hurt too much, gather up and block the entrance!"

A blonde man, who had been leaning against another man, nodded vigorously, stumbling off to do as he was told, other people joining him as they made their way to the entrance of the base. They all lined up, in the same pose and with a synchronicity that was beautiful in Hari's eyes, began a sort of dance. The earth underneath her rumbled and groaned, right before it began moving to the groups movements, building, waving, crashing upon the broken door and sealing it shut in a flood of grass and mud.

"Fine, if the village will be hurt because you're free, a small group will have to head west, warn them, evacuate them, bring them with us to... Where-ever you're going. Is there anywhere you can think of that will be safe for you and your people? Somewhere you can get medical help, food, a place to rest while you get back on your feet?"

The man glanced down at her once more, giving her a sharp nod.

"I've heard stories of the Fire country aiding outsiders on occasion, they may help us, it'll be a place that's better than here for sure."

Maybe it was the lack of Chakra, her wounds, seeing the earth literally swallow a base, but Hari was growing fuzzy and light-headed, her thoughts sluggish, her tongue uncooperative.

"The fire country? There's more... Countries? Never mind. If it's safer than here and can help, we'll get your people there."

Nearly so out of it, Hari nearly missed the young boy at her side, brother, she would say now she can see them in the light, to the one who had placed her at this tree. However, she didn't miss his forlorn look.

"You're not coming with us?"

Hari tried her best to smile at the boy, to reassure him... But she wasn't sure whether she was trying to comfort him or herself in that moment. She didn't even know if she was going to survive the day, she would only slow them down, and even if she did, she knew she couldn't stay with them, not for long, perhaps just long enough to make sure they were safe and would continue to be so. She had her brothers out there, somewhere and she had not come this far, fucked up her hand and arm for a long while, taken a pickaxe, killed, to turn back now.

"I'll be with you until you're safe, okay? But I have to leave after, I'm looking for... Someone. Unless, I don't suppose, any of you know where the Uchiha live?"

Burly bastards reply was quick, sharp and biting.

"Where the Uchiha live? No. They don't live anywhere."

So, the Uchiha were scattered then... Nomadic, or just lived in different places... And her only lead was the Uchiha that had been in this base, which means they were in this country, or, at least, one with the name of Sasuke was here, one who looked like her. Her only lead to her brothers was the sick-son-of-a-bitch that had had a hand in this, what was the name?... Ah, Orochimaru, or the Uchiha that had been captured and could be dead already... _Fuck._ Hari looked up to the sky, wincing as she turned her gaze up to the blue-haired boy and smiled as best as she could, heavily lifting her good arm to playfully ruffle his hair. For her strenuous efforts, she was awarded a giggle that had made the pain of the action far worth it.

"It's going to start getting dark, we need to get a move on if we want to reach this fire country any time soon. Think you can carry me kid? I could do with a piggy-back ride."

The boy giggle once more, an odd mix of the high pitched girl and the hacking rumble of laughter from the man, two voices warring with each other. However, before the boy could reply, Burly bastard stepped in.

"Before we even think of moving, we need that axe out of your shoulder. Renji, be a good lad and try and find Sakiko, she's our best healer, if she's dea-... If you can't find her, find anyone with any healing knowledge... In fact, bring them all as well as Sakiko if you find her, we're going to need all the help we can get."

With an abrupt 'on it!" from the boy, now she knew who was called Renji, he dashed off to the group of people, disappearing between legs and bodies, trees and foliage. Burly bastard didn't wait for the re-enforcements however, as he placed one meaty hand on her good shoulder, pushing her into the tree, while the other wrapped around the pickaxe.

"This is going to hurt. Brace yourself. Ready?"

Hari sucked in a deep breath and nodded, she supposed now was as good as any time. With a great, clean yank, the pickaxe slid free from her shoulder and Hari _screamed._ Just as she heard running steps, the sound of twigs snapping, as she could faintly see the blurry outline of Renji gaining on her with a mass of blurry, faceless, colourless people behind him, the world around her flashed brightly and then faded, leaving her to sink into the sweet, peaceful depths of oblivion.

Nevertheless, through the pain, the passing out and the lack of energy and Chakra from the escaped prisoners, all riding high on the taste of sweet freedom, no one noticed the Shinobi perched in a tree on the other side of the clearing, watching, waiting, smile slithering onto his face, rounded glasses glinting in the sun.

"An Uchiha. Orochimaru-Sama will be most... Interested."

Then he was gone.

* * *

 **NEXT CHAPTER SNEAK PEAKS:**

 **(For all you wonderful people who have waited so patiently for a certain reunion)**

"Why are you here?... How did you get here?... What happened at the Otogakure base?... Do you have anything to say?... At all? Or are you going to keep playing the silent game?"

Hari glared at the silver-haired man who was bearing down upon her, obviously her vow of silence was over as the man had grown fed up of his questions going unanswered. Kakashi, he had said his name was, as well as the girl, Sakura, who was watching her intently. In fact, Sakura freaked her out the most... She wouldn't stop looking at her, watching, sitting uncomfortably close. At least this Kakashi fellow got down to business instead of just watching her, as if she was some sort of interesting artefact to ponder and preen over. Hari smirked over at the duo.

"Yes, actually, I think I do. Should I die during this moronic mission of yours, donate all my organs to those in need... Except for my middle finger, you and Konoha can fucking keep that."

~X~

"And, exactly now, what is it you want from me?"

Hari scoffed as she dangled from the tree her two pursuers were standing at the trunk of. These two, especially silver over there, were slippery to get past. Of course, she was still badly injured, which made her possibility of evasion and escape all that more harder to accomplish, but, then again, Hari had never been a quitter. She had escaped those mask wearing creepers who spoke in riddles, she had burned those Oto-nin, how much harder could getting passed these two be? Pinkie spoke up.

"We only want to take you to Konoha Sas-... Uchiha Hari-san, where you'll be safe."

Hari couldn't help it, she laughed and laughed hard. Safe? Hari, ever since setting foot on these Elemental nations had not found a single safe place. Plus, how stupid did they think she was? They had chased her without provocation on her part, thrown kunai at her when she had declined their first offer, exploding paper too, yes, that existed apparently, and chased her up a tree like she was some errant cat that had escaped home. All the while, they could see she was injured, badly. Were they going to shove her into a little pet carrier too? Fuck that and while she was at it, fuck them too. She was just trying to find her brothers!

"And I want to go to the moon and ride bloody rainbows as I eat my way through unlimited treacle tarts. It ain't happening, accept that."

~X~

Sakura braced herself, the wind whipping her hair around her face, fingers heading towards her own weapons.

"Which way are they coming from Kakashi-sensei?"

Hari frowned, trying to get the symbol engraved cuffs currently pinning her hands behind her back off. Whoever _They_ were, as these two kept calling them, refusing to tell Hari their names, they were here and for the life of her, she wasn't facing a battle with her hands tied behind her back. Kakashi, that smart bastard, saw her movement so Hari tried to distract them.

"Well, based on the speed and direction of the wind, the movement of the leaves, the broken twigs on the ground, I would say they're coming from our direct left."

Sakura twirled to face her, eyes wide.

"You can tell that? Do you specialize in tracking?"

Hari chuckled humourlessly, one hand finally sliding free from the restraints, though, she kept it behind her back. While these guys battled, she would make a run for it. It was her only chance to get the hell away. But, for them to battle, they had to know they were here, and for some strange reason, neither of them could see the pair lurking in the trees, dressed in weird decorative cloaks and conical straw hats that hid their faces.

"No, you bloody idiot. I see them through the trees, you would too if you looked, they're right there. Black cloaks with red clouds you said, yes?"

This was the first time she saw Kakashi loose his cool, even after all her jabs and sarcastic remarks aimed at him and his team-mate. That being said, as much as it worried her, it was slightly amusing to see the one with the cool head swear.

"Fuck, Genjutsu! Take Hari-san Sakura and run!"

~X~

"You don't understand... You brother... Itachi... He's bad news... We're trying to help you!"

Hari snarled, digging the kunai deeper into the soft flesh of Sakura's throat. Those... Those bastards! No wonder they had not told her who _They_ were. They, as it was, had turned out to be her brother, Itachi, and what had they done? They had tried to manipulate her away. They had come with false smiles, then fought her. They had refused to tell her much, saying it was ' _classified',_ yet had expected her to spill her guts. They had said they were offering her a home, a safe place, only as she declined, they had chained her up and took her anyway! Then, just as she was starting to like them, she finds this out! The only reason she now knew the truth was because, frankly, Sakura couldn't keep her mouth shut, not when Kakashi wasn't around...

Kakashi! He was back there, fighting Itachi... Itachi was here! She had to get back to that clearing, she had to get to Itachi, even if she had to get through both Sakura and Kakashi to do so, even with her still weak arm and lack of weapons. Only... She didn't need to fight now did she... Hari had the perfect bargaining chip right in front of her, and they, Sakura and Kakashi, didn't need to know she wouldn't actually kill them, they didn't _know_ her enough to call her bluff. Her refusal to tell them anything had ensured that fact.

 _She had a plan._

"Yes, well, this is coming from the girl and man who have shackled me against my will, fought me while I was injured and are currently carting me off to a Village I have no desire of going to or staying in. I think, in this matter, 'bad news' is subjective. Now shut up and be a good little hostage."

~X~

Itachi's hand clenched around her throat, cutting of her struggling gasps and any chance she had to speak, her feet leaving the earth to dangle uselessly underneath her.

"This will be your last warning Kunoichi. Drop the henge... Drop whatever it is you are using to steal that face that is not yours, quit this game while you still have breath in your lungs, and you and your team-mates can leave. Decline, taunt me with your lies and devious visage any more than you already have, I will personally skin Hatake-san and force your pink haired team-mate to eat it while I burn this village and forest to the ground around you. The choice is yours."

She wasn't wearing a henge, she wasn't under the use of Polyjuice potion, she wasn't wearing a fake face, this was her, how could she drop something that was true? His face was stoic, blank, a calm riverbed of ivory, but Hari could see, by merlin she could see, the pain, the loss, the heartache shining in the very back of his eyes, flickering like a candle under the heavy wind. She could see him, Itachi, underneath the mask, she could see the little boy she had dreamed of, laughing with her, playing with her, bringing her something so sparse in her life that she treasured the thoughts of it, happiness. _She could see him._ But he couldn't see her, he couldn't see the baby he used to play with, he couldn't see the woman she had become, he only saw a lie. He thought she was someone pretending to be her.

His fingers tightened, bruises already blooming and Hari couldn't breath. She couldn't speak. She couldn't tell him it was her, it was Tonbo, that she had come all this way to find him and Sasuke, that she was in fact, alive, here and standing in front of him. But she could show him.

Her bandaged hand, coated in blood of the relatively short fight, shook violently as she rose it, her other hand grasping and tugging at the hand choking her, drawing her life from her body, her fingers inched closer, trembling, inches from Itachi's face. Her thumb and forefinger curled into an o, and as the world around her began to blacken at the edges, conciousness slipping from her flexing grasp, Hari did the only thing she could think of that would show him it was her, it was Tonbo.

 _She flicked his nose._

* * *

 **NOTE ABOUT NEXT CHAPTER:** There isn't much Itachi in the next chapter, only towards the very end, but the reunion does take place next chapter and the chapter after that is wholly Hari and Itachi. (Are you as excited about this as I am?)

* * *

 **A.N:** Wow, the longest chapter yet at 11,000 words and the next chapter isn't looking much smaller, so I hope you guys like longer chapters, if not, I'll try and cut them apart to spread it out. Either way, let me know which you guys prefer!

There wasn't really that many questions asked last chapter, and the few that were asked, I had already written into this chapter anyway, hence why there is no Q&A in these notes. If you guys do have questions though, don't be afraid to ask. :)

Right, I just want to get this out there and once it's out, I'm going to stop addressing it. IF YOU DO NOT LIKE THIS FIC, MY WRITING STYLE, PLOT OR THE WHOLE INCEST PART... DON'T READ IT. I honestly don't know how many times I have to say this. No one is there, next to you, holding a gun to your head forcing you to read this. And honestly, I understand, this could just not be your cup of tea and that's perfectly fine, go have fun reading something you like :). However, to spend time writing like 600 words in a P.M or review of pure hatred, no honest criticism offered just hate, to not only the fic, but me as a person, a person you have never met before is not acceptable.

Don't get me wrong, criticism is welcome, but pure flame? Just save yourself the trouble, the time and energy and do something positive. Don't like something? Write your own fic with the twists or plot you wanted to see in this one, get creative, trust me, writing is fun and a relaxant. I don't do this for money, for anything really, I use writing as an escape, something I do that I immensely enjoy, and because funnily enough, some people seem like what craziness comes out of my mind and I like making people smile. To have random people just completely shitting on me as a person for a fic, it's just... No, it's pathetic. This is the last time I'm addressing this issue. End of.

 **THAT BEING SAID,** this is no way, shape or form addressed to everyone. Most of you wonderful people are lovely, inspiring and motivational people, people who make me smile and make me want to write more, people who make me think about my own writing and imagination. There's just a few bad eggs in the basket I wanted to set straight.

I just wanted to give a special thanks to **stubs1101, Cherry-888** and **Bunnie.863** , your kind words pushed me to write this chapter, especially under all the hate when writing was becoming the last thing I wanted to do, so thank you! Really, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the ones to come! This ones for you beautiful people!

 **A HUGE THANK YOU AND CYBER HUG** to all those who took the time to review, you guys are the driving force behind this. Thank you to all those who followed and favourite'd, I hope you enjoyed this and continue to do so.

 **Still no Beta yet, so mistakes are all mine, hopefully, next chapter will be Beta'd.**

As always, spare a poor fanfic author's heart the worry and drop a review in her little bowl? Until next time, stay beautiful!~ _AlwaysEatTheRude21_


	7. Love for Silence

**VERY IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ! I CAN'T STRESS THIS ENOUGH.  
**

Surprise, I'm not dead and apparently, neither is this story! Now, now, now, give me a minute to explain before the boo's come, please!

First, I have/had a laptop that I stored all my Tonbo notes and chapters on. I'm talking full on story notes that reached 50,000 words that outlined the plot. Another 20,000 words on sub plots I was going to include and even more on just random things I typed up and was thinking of adding. Me being, well, me, did not back any of this up. I know, I feel it too. It's a mistake I'm not making again, trust me.

Secondly, I have epilepsy. My seizures can get quite 'athletic'. I'm sure many of you can see where this is going. I was walking down the stairs with my laptop, took a turn, landed on said laptop, seized and smashed the poor machine to bits. Losing everything in the process. In the end, I ended up with a smashed laptop, a broken leg and a few cuts from the broken glass screen. Go me.

Wait, I hear you, 'but you posted two more stories and updated another?'. Thankfully, those were actually typed up on my brother's laptop, and therefore didn't perish in what I like to think of as the 'fanfiction earth-quake of 2017".

To be honest, it disheartened me quite a bit, losing it all. There was little bits I couldn't quite remember how I had planned out (I have some trouble remembering, it's why I type everything up before I forget it). Most sub-plots were forgotten. Plot twists lost and I lost a bit of my enthusiasm to write this story. And to be extra honest with you, while healing up and trying to re-write my notes and get everything back together again, all the hate for this story got to me more than it should have.

I know criticism will come, I welcome it, but some of the things I was sent, you would think I murdered someone's puppy. Or, as one anon had stated 'what are you doing to Naruto? Fuck off and stop writing your shitty fic. You're killing the fandom. Actually stop writing all together. This is rubbish and so is everything else you do.' Trying to re-write everything up, while being sent the things I was sent, dragged me down to that thought of 'what's the point?'. BUT WAIT A MINUTE, this isn't me just complaining, it does have a point and the point is the rest of you beautiful people.

Re-reading your reviews, the lovely words you guys sent me, how much you like this fic and even the simple 'this fic made me smile today', made me smile in return. It picked me back up. Made me type again. And really, I can't thank you guys enough. Writing is an escape for me, a fun thing, and even if I get a ton of hate for continuing this, knowing at least one person out there likes this and this fic is an escape for them, something fun to read and smile at, then I couldn't ask for more. Thank you all, really.

NOW HERES THE SECOND PIECE OF BAD NEWS: after losing everything on this fic, and I mean everything, it's taken me awhile to get back into the groove and get far enough ahead to be happy to post a chapter. And I know in the last chapter I said we would get to Itachi and Hari meeting, but I'm just not quite there yet. HOWEVER, it does come next chapter and I'm trying my hardest to get that one out in the next week. So, please be a little patient. BUT this does have an upside.

I lost everything, therefore I could look at this fic with clean eyes instead of bullet points of 'well, this needs to happen, then this, this, this'. It's let me come up with new twist and turns. It's let me just write instead of plan, which has been a problem for me before now. And writing with no end goal or plan is therapeutic, it's fun and easy and really, what writing is all about. So, instead of going with my head and thinking what needed to happen, I went with what my gut told me. Such as this chapters creation... Including Sasuke's and Itachi's P.O.V's. So... While they're technically not together in the fic yet, Sasuke and Itachi are very present in the fic and I quite like how this chapter has turned out, and I know the next chapter is very much the same lay-out as this one, but if you guys like it, I might keep it. It was fun trying to get into their heads and writing them up!

Well, enough of my rambling. Thank you all so very, very much and I hope you enjoy!

* * *

 **Sasuke Uchiha's P.O.V**

The sound of Uchiha Sasuke's sandals clicking on the limestone flooring was the only sound to be heard for miles around the labyrinth like base. _Click, clack. Click, clack. Click, clack._ If the octave was only a few levels lower, it would sound reminiscent of a heartbeat. However, the silence that engulfed the base suited him fine. Words were distractions from one's actions and intent. Sounds were a facade to an environment. Silence couldn't lie.

His training over the last two weeks had frustratingly slowed to a dribble. Sasuke wasn't used to waiting, he didn't have the patience for it, and when he was forced to wait because of another's needs or orders, it angered him even more. He hadn't done what he had for anyone else. He wasn't here for anyone but himself. In so, nothing outside himself should affect his plans. However, Orochimaru was fulfilling his end of the bargain, slowly but surely, and that was the only thing halting Sasuke's blade from his long, pale neck.

Power was power, no matter where it was learned from and to defeat Itachi, Sasuke would need all the power and knowledge he could get his hands on. Even if that meant playing the waiting game on the whims of people he would rather see dead. His vengeance wouldn't be stopped because of his own faults and misgivings. So he would wait... But not for much longer.

He had heard whispers of why Orochimaru seemed to be in such a foul mood. He had seen the results with his own eyes, Orochimaru's pathetic anger and temper tantrums over something as ridiculous as one of his precious bases being broken into and destroyed. It wasn't like the Sannin didn't have another thirty in his back pocket. Nevertheless, this one had been one of Orochimaru's favorites due to the... 'Studies' he had been conducting there.

Sasuke had not cared at the time, he couldn't bring himself to care much about anything other than training and trailing any rumor of Itachi's whereabouts, these days. However, when Kabuto had arrived back from the destroyed base today, smiling that sick little twist of lips, pleading for a private audience with Orochimaru that would disrupt Sasuke's training, Sasuke had not been as annoyed as he should have been or thought he would be over an inconvenience. In fact, his interest had been piqued more than aggravated.

It wasn't many times Kabuto smirked that smile, but when he did it often meant big things were on the horizon. Big things that could interrupt and discard Sasuke's own plans and schemes if he didn't factor them into the equation. In the end, when all was said and done, nothing came between Sasuke and his end goal.

So, when Orochimaru dismissed him with a flick of his thin-boned hand, led a smirking Kabuto off into the tunnels, Sasuke had taken the opposite tunnel. The opposite tunnel that would circumvent their own path and lead to the very same 'hidden' office Orochimaru often frequented when he wished to be alone. Sasuke almost scoffed. He knew these bases like the back of his hand, his own reflection, at this point and there was nowhere hidden from him here. To think so was idiotic.

It didn't take long for Sasuke to begin to hear the soft, echoing voices of his teacher and Kabuto, nor to push up against a small alcove, shrouded in looming shadows. When their steps came to a pottering stop, their words were loud and clear and they were none the wiser to Sasuke's presence. This time, he did scoff. Fools.

"The base is completely destroyed, the location compromised Orochimaru-sama. There is nothing to be done for it."

Kabuto's voice was too sweet, too polite, too submissive. It made Sasuke's skin crawl. For someone to be so dependent, so under someone's thrawl, it was despicable to him. He would rather fall to sweet oblivion than to become something akin to the bespeckled man. Kabuto would be the first to die by Sasuke's hand after he got what he wanted. By that point, it would be a mercy.

"Do not be coy with me Kabuto-kun. You wouldn't be smiling so... Pleasantly if it was all bad news."

Sasuke couldn't see Orochimaru from his stand point, but he could picture his smile all too clearly. A slit, wide, gaping, toothy mockery of humor.

"The perpetrator was a single person. They went in, set free your subjects and with their help, demolished the building."

Orochimaru's answering chuckle was wet and slippery.

"And you think this person would be of interest to me? You should know by now Kabuto, not many people can hold my interest for long."

Tap. Tap. Tap. By the stride, Sasuke guessed it was Kabuto walking closer to Orochimaru. His guess was only solidified when he noticed how more hushed Kabuto's voice had become.

"It was an Uchiha. I know how they always seem to hold your attention."

Sasuke froze, hands clenching at his side. An Uchiha? Impossible. Unthinkable. However, Kabuto had yet to be proven wrong... No. This time, the man must be mistaken. The Uchiha were dead. Gone. He and his brother were the last beacons of a once great clan. And soon, if he got his way, only he would be the last standing.

"An Uchiha? A child of Itachi perhaps... How old is he?"

Could it be? Could there really be an Uchiha out there? Had his forsaken brother really spawned another? No. Itachi loathed the Uchiha. He was the one to burn their once great clan to the ground. Sasuke could hardly see his brother getting some unfortunate woman pregnant and letting the woman keep it. If it had Uchiha genes, it would have been killed by Itachi. Kabuto was wrong. He had to be...

"She. And she looked around Sasuke-sans age, looked nearly identical to him in fact. Blue-black hair, pale skin, thin and lithe, I saw her use the Sharingan... Although she had green eyes."

"Really now, after all this time-"

Sasuke's world fractured and splintered around him. He couldn't hear any more of their conversation, couldn't focus, couldn't think... Couldn't breathe. His own heartbeat felt like it was screaming two words into his ears.

Green eyes. Green eyes. Green eyes. Green eyes.

A girl. His age. Looked like him. Had green eyes. He had grown up staring at his family photo's for hours at a time, wishing, praying, sobbing until he had no tears left and he was nothing but a desert. When he was small, while his parents were still alive, when he was alone, he would pretend she was still there, sitting next to him. He would speak to her, tell her about his day, make up stories about how her day had gone, play with her. His parents had thought he had an imaginary friend. He knew she wasn't real... The real her was dead. Had been for years. His twin. Hari.

At the time, he couldn't bring himself to tell his parents he imagined his dead twin and spoke to her every day, so he had made up a story of an invisible dog that took him on adventures. Then Itachi had done what he had done and Sasuke's imagination had died that day. Hari had died once more. Was she... After all this time... Could it be?...

No. This... This was Itachi. It had to be. Another taunt. Another joke on him. It was a trap. Bait. He was being lured out. He didn't know how his brother had done this, but he had somehow and the mechanics didn't really matter in the grand scheme. So his brother thought he could dangle a lie in his face and have him snap? Not this time. Sasuke would investigate. Catch his brother before Itachi could catch him. He. Would. Pay.

He waited half hour after Orochimaru and Kabuto had left before he ducked out from the Alcove and marched away. His stride was sure, strong, confident... But his hands were trembling.

* * *

 **Itachi's P.O.V**

 _Step. Inhale. Step. Exhale. Step. Inhale. Step. Exhale. Repeat._ Itachi enjoyed these moments most. The peace. The routine. The quietness. The ease of it all. Simply breathing. He even enjoyed the soft hoot of an owl that billowed from above their heads as it swooped passed, ready to sweep into its nest and sleep for the on coming day. However, he could do without the clambering thuds of his partner's heavy steps and the sparse clank of his large sword hitting a tree trunk when the giant of a man tried to squeeze through a space he was obviously not built to pass through.

Their small mission in Yugakure had been completed with minimal disruption and relative ease. Now the two of them were heading back to base, back to the sodden and dreary Amegakure, trekking a long path across the borders of Otogakure. Overall, it was just another day in another week in another year. Well, that had been what Itachi Uchiha had originally believed.

He and Kisame had been crossing an old crickety bridge across a small river when he had first felt it. The pair was silent at the time, a common thing between the two that Itachi appreciated more than he would ever verbally tell the other S-ranked nin. Kisame never felt the need to fill in the blanks, to shy away from the silence, to fill it with incessant chatter as if conversation was a childs colouring book. If Itachi was to ever admit to having a friend, after the massa-... After what he had done, the only name he could picture moving passed his lips would have been Kisame's.

"We should stop off in Takigakure. There's a nice tea shop I know, discreet, out of the way-"

Something flared on Itachi's senses, a candle flickering in a great wind, barely there, holding on, but with a spark so bright it couldn't not capture his attention immediately.

"Shhh."

He stalled, right in the middle of the bridge, his head cocking to the side. It was... Gone. Whatever it had been, it had felt oddly... Familiar. Like an ingredient to an old favorite dish, one his mother would bake on special occasions, but with his palette older, more convoluted, other flavors tainting it, he just couldn't put his finger on its name.

His sandal lifted off the old birchwood planks, another step taken, another inhale, another exhale when he froze once more. This time the sense of it was stronger, a blaze more than a flare... A chakra signal. It was coming from the north-east, strong, angry even. Rageful. The shinobi must have been in the middle of a fight, a big one, to produce such a chakra flare as wide as they had. Untrained too if they could not keep it limited enough to go undetected.

"Do you... Do you feel that?"

As he stared across the bridge, Itachi couldn't bring himself to answer, only nod at Kisame's question. Familiar. Why did it feel so familiar? It felt crackly, like an electric storm but with a warmth that bellowed of fire more than electric. Buzzy. Light but with a sharp bite at the end. Energetic. Zippy... Dancing... Flying.

His blood chugged through his veins, drumming in his ears like the sound of war. His heart pattered in his chest, thumping erratically against his chest. His skin prickled and seemed to shrink on his bones, making him feel tight, too tight. He knew what it reminded him of.

 _Dragonflies._

That's what it felt like. A dragonfly dancing. He remembered a pond, spring days, the smell of bluebells, honeysuckle and baby's breath on the wind. He remembered giggles, the patter of small feet, the splash of the pond, the chatter of "'Achi, 'Achi, 'Achi!". Her first word. He remembered her chasing them on stubby legs, her grasping hands, the smile, the joy in her eyes. He remembered looking at those dragonflies she was so fascinated with and thinking her chakra felt exactly how those little wing beasts looked on spring days. Birthing his nickname for her.

 _Tonbo._

No step. No inhale. No exhale. Nothing. He didn't exist then, he only existed in a memory, as a child, swinging around Tonbo as she tried to catch the dragonflies.

"Itachi? Are you listening to me? I said it feels like Sasuke-san, but different, airier... Itachi? Are you ill? is that..."

Itachi snapped back into the present, his gaze zeroing in on Kisame. His face had not changed from the look he always wore, clean of thoughts and emotion, carven, neutrally blank. However, Kisame's own gaze was locked onto his right cheek, not his face entirely. Blinking, Itachi primly rose a hand up and ran his fingertips across his cheekbone, pulling them away to stare down at the wetness that glistened on the top.

A tear. He had... He was crying.

"Hn."

Kisame's mouth opened to question further, but his words would be forever unheard as Itachi swiveled, cloak swishing, and he took off in an all out run in the direction the flare had come from... The opposite way they should be heading if they wanted to get anywhere near Amegakure.

"Hey, Itachi! Itachi! For fuck sake!"

Unfortunately, Kisame knew Itachi. Too well for comfort sometimes. He didn't need to know his whole life story, frankly, Kisame didn't give two shits. He didn't care about world peace, conspiracy plots, Akatsuki, any fucking village or whether either of them really belonged where they've ended up or not. Dammit, Kisame was sure he belonged down below. Far, far, far below with the acts he had pulled.

All he cared about was his sword, a good place to sleep and a cup of tea every now and again. Call it old age. But... But he and Itachi had been through thick and thin together, and the silent statue grew on you like fungus if you gave him long enough. Kisame, unluckily, had been in his presence for years now and, well, it seemed he was in it for the long haul. Unexplained running off included or not.

Kisame huffed as he made sure Samehada's strap was on tight before he took off running after Itachi. One day, Kisame swore it, it would be Itachi running after him with a million questions on the tip of his tongue.

* * *

 **Hari's P.O.V**

Hari swore under her breath as she dodged the kunai that just barely missed her thigh, skidding and bumbling deeper into the thick brush of the heavy forest in futile hopes of escaping the duo hot on her tail. Shit... Where had the third gone? To say things had taken a turn for the worst since she had left the survivors of the Otogakure base at the edge of what they called 'Konoha', would be an understatement.

After she had left the survivors, still healing and half broken, she had headed north... Back into the hell-hole she had pulled the survivors from and barely escaped herself. Never had she been so foolishly, brashly, undoubtedly Gryffindor before. However, it had been her only option. Her only lead. She couldn't not take it.

Misaki's grandson had given her all the reason she needed to dive head first into danger. North of that nightmarish base was an Uchiha... A Sasuke Uchiha. It may not be her brother, it could be a complete stranger, but, even if it was just a sliver of a chance, it could be him. And that? That she couldn't turn away from. So, she had dived right into the bloody brimstone and fire and now she was paying the price with her pound of aching flesh.

First, little bands of Oto-nin came after her, only two or three men strong. They were more of a nuisance than anything else. Dim-witted, easy to out maneuver and think, too heavy handed. It was more of an energy drain to get around them than it was a life threatening situation. But then it was three to five men teams, then seven, then there were so many Hari didn't take the time to count and balance risk against reward before she tried to out run them. Then they came.

The ones in white masks, shaped as animals, dressed in black and silver, quick, smart... Lethal, even if it was only one and suddenly mild annoyance became a heady, poignant thought she might not see another sunrise. The only thing that had stopped them from capturing or killing her so far had been her ability to apparate. However, they were smart, they were adapting, the last one she had had a running in with had nearly grabbed her before she could apparate, just a finger width away from being teleported away with her, making her ability to apparate redundant in the first place. An inch from capture. One step from death. It had been too close.

Now, just as she had gone passed the broken base, pushing even further north, one step closer to an Uchiha, towards Sasuke, she had been ambushed once more. These three were different, individual and yet united in a strength Hari was finding hard to fight against. Brown-haired-possibly-blind-man was quick, lightning, forcing Hari to push herself to her own limits, just barely managing to pip him in the speed department. He appeared at every turn she thought to take, almost like he was reading her mind, or the minute tellings her tensing muscles gave. However, Hari had taken to falsely turning, slightly jarring herself to throw him off track. It was working, but he was learning fast.

Bubblegum-girl-wonder was the least worrying, but that was only if Hari managed to keep out of her range and with her dwindling energy, the pain flaring in her body from unhealed wounds and lack of much-needed rest and sleep, she doubted she could keep that for much longer. Back when the chase had begun, girl wonder had shown her hand too soon.

As soon as Hari had bolted on sight of them heading towards her, the girl had jumped, fist raised high and proud, only to smack it into the ground... Creating a huge crater and wide, gaping split in the earth that Hari had narrowly rolled away from. Hari had always thought Hermione had been exaggerating when she had said people from the Elemental Nations could throw boulders. Unfortunately for Hari, under-exaggeration seemed to be just as detrimental to her continued survival. It was a mistake she wouldn't make again.

Silver fox... Now here was the real, undiluted danger Hari faced. He was obviously the leader. The other two taking worded and unworded orders from him with just a tilt of his covered chin or flick of a gloved finger. He was smart, as fast as possibly-blind-man and most worryingly, as soon as Hari had activated her Sharingan, he had shouted, in a gruff yet unbothered voice, almost bored even, to the other two to not look into her eyes. He knew her trump card and had stolen it from her... Bloody bastard.

Since then, none of them had made eye contact, and in such close proximity to her, and her inability to control the gift, Hari was reluctant to use those black flames. Just her luck if she should barbeque herself.

Now she had Silver-fox and Bubblegum-girl-wonder mere feet behind her, her shoulder was bleeding once more from ripped stitches from her mad dash, her bruised, hastily bandaged arm was still nearly useless and Brown-haired-possibly-blind-man was nowhere to be found, likely somewhere ahead of her, setting up a trap. So, what did you do when you could no longer run, or wasn't willing to run into a trap? You made a stand... Or at least, tried to babble and talk your way out of it to buy yourself enough time to think of a better plan than the last stand. A last stand came... Well, last and Hari would not die here. Not today. Not without ever seeing her brothers just one time.

With the very dregs of her energy, Hari pushed herself up a large tree, clambering into the foliage, slumping on a thick branch, back pressing harshly into biting bark. She had about twenty seconds before the duo were upon her. Breath ragged and unforgiving, hands trembling, she reached up and prodded her shoulder, hissing through her teeth at the sting, wincing when finger tips came away crimson. Her shoulder was a mess. Her other arm, still patterned with that stain glass bruising was useless. She was drained beyond empty. She was tired. Weak. Alone. Surrounded... She had never felt so vulnerable in her life.

Nevertheless, when she heard the tell-tale whisp of feet crunching on fallen twigs and leaves, steps slowing to a halt at the base of her tree, Hari straightened up, painted on a blank face, closed her eyes and pictured her photograph of her family and stood tall. If she was going to die, she would die standing and thinking of hope, love and what could have been. She only hoped her parents, in that beautiful ethereal plain, knew she had tried her hardest.

One heartbeat. Two heartbeats. Three heartbeats. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Just as Hari was about to jump out and tell them to get it over with, instead choosing to peep out from the foliage to stare down at her pursuers before she took the jump, them looking at her now that her eyes were back to jade green, Silver-fox addressed her.

"We don't want to hurt you."

Hari's brows pulled down sharply, shadowing her eyes, distrust laced in every feature. What had they called all this then? A welcoming party? Here she sat in a tree, haggard, bleeding, half sure she would pass out very soon, and they had the balls to tell her they didn't want to hurt her? Hari almost laughed. It seemed Silver-fox earned his mental nickname with his way of words. Want didn't mean they wouldn't. Think. She needed to buy time. She needed to come up with a plan, a rough idea, anything at all that could possibly get her the hell out of there. So, she played along.

"And, exactly now, what is it you want from me?"

Hari scoffed as she dangled from the tree her two pursuers were standing at the trunk of. These two, especially silver over there, were slippery to get past. Of course, she was still badly injured, which made her possibility of evasion and escape all that more harder to accomplish, but, then again, Hari had never been a quitter. She had escaped those mask wearing creepers who spoke in riddles, she had burned those Oto-nin, how much harder could getting passed these two be? Pinkie spoke up.

"We only want to take you to Konoha Sas-... Uchiha Hari-san, where you'll be safe."

Hari couldn't help it, she laughed and laughed hard. Safe? Hari, ever since setting foot on these Elemental nations had not found a single safe place. Plus, how stupid did they think she was? They had chased her without provocation on her part, thrown kunai at her, exploding paper too, yes, that existed apparently and chased her up a tree like she was some errant cat that had escaped home. All the while, they could see she was injured, badly. Were they going to shove her into a little pet carrier too? Feed her meow-mix and semi-skimmed milk? Fuck that and while she was at it, fuck them too. She was just trying to find her brothers!

"And I want to go to the moon and ride bloody rainbows as I eat my way through unlimited treacle tarts. It ain't happening, accept that."

Silver-fox took a step closer and Hari's eyes whirled to red, even if the energy to do so left her dizzy for a moment. All she had to do was fake it, pretend, if they thought she wasn't so weak, perhaps they would think twice about attacking. But then two things happened at once. First, she clocked onto the use of her name... Her real name. One she hadn't used since her arrival in this land.

"How... How do you know my name?"

And two, with her Sharingan activated, she realized too late that bright eyes was right behind her. Hari had barely enough time and energy to hastily growl out a 'Shit!' and try to jump away before the first and last hit came, an open palmed smack to the side of her neck, sending her sailing out of the tree. Before she crumpled to the floor, the world around her swam, her body refused to move, no matter how loudly she mentally screamed for it to, and she faded out of consciousness. Before sleep fully enveloped her, she felt the crash of an already hurt body skidding across unforgiving grass and rock and heard the warbling of words from Silver fox.

"Sakura-chan, check her over, she's bleeding. However, be quick, we need to move on before the Oto-nin and Akatsuki catch up. The faster we get to Konoha, the better for all of us..."

No... She couldn't go Konoha... Konoha was south... She needed... North... North... North.

Then, for a blissful while, Hari knew nothing. No pain. No ache. No need. Just silence and peace. Heaven. However, she did know anger when she eventually was awoken.

* * *

 **Itachi P.O.V**

The Otogakure-nin dug his hands into the soil, groaning deeply as he dragged himself forward before flopping back down, out of energy, will and more importantly, blood. However, those factors didn't matter to Itachi. Not when his foot hooked underneath the limp body and kicked it over, earning a muted scream from the man on the grass below him. He wouldn't live long, not with a wound as substantial as that to his chest.

"Who did this?"

Kisame stood a few feet behind Itachi, wearily eyeing the destroyed Oto base to their left. The Oto-nin had obviously been inside the base when it had been crumpled in on itself, the thick layer of smoke and dust coating his skin told Itachi that much. He had traced the Chakra signal to this very spot, however, a day ago it had blinked out of existence. It was still there, barely, but not strong enough to pinpoint, just enough to give a general sense of direction. When the man below him spoke, it was a spat, snarled word, drenched in blood that dribbled down his chin and splattered onto the green grass.

"Uchiha."

Either the man was addressing him, unlikely by the way he said the word, or he was to believe his Ototo had done this. Nevertheless, that did not add up to what Itachi had felt, nor the small news he had fed to him about the happenings of his Ototo throughout the years. The signature had felt like his brothers, without a doubt, but different. Just a slight change to the core that fundamentally skewed the whole feel of it. Even without this oddity, the last Itachi had heard, Sasuke was still adamantly on his path of vengeance, still willingly under the tutelage of Orochimaru. His Ototo wasn't one to divert cause and path once he was on that road, not so suddenly and unpredictably. Itachi bent down on his haunches, closer to hear the man should he choose to answer.

"Sasuke Uchiha did this?"

If Sasuke had turned, left Orochimaru, he could very well be back with the Leaf village. That meant he was closer to the council, to danger, to Danz-... The man's head lolled to the side, his eyes becoming bleary as he rapidly blinked away the darkness that was surely grasping and tugging on his mind. Thankfully, he had just enough strength left to spit one more insult.

"No... She... Came out of nowhere... Wasn't expecting an attack... Not from a Uchiha... Fucking green-eyed bitch..."

Snap. Itachi's hand left the mans throat, the angle bent and odd. Straightening out, Itachi spared the Oto-nin one last, lingering glance before turning and walking away. As he brushed passed Kisame, the other man's deep, barrelled voice questioned him.

"Well, are we going to keep tracking or-"

"It's a trap."

Stopping at his side, Kisame facing the north, Itachi the south, he had never felt so... Tired as he had right then. He didn't need sleep. It wasn't his illness. No. He felt like he had aged a lifetime in the span of a sentence.

"Are you sure?"

Itachi gave a short, precise nod and when he blinked, he was sure he saw dragonflies on the back of his eyelid. They burnt to ash on his iris.

"Yes. That person is long dead. This is either a trap by my Ototo or Konoha."

How could it not be a trap? The signs had been too easy to find. Life never gave you anything for free. A signal that screamed for attention. One lone survivor at the base to pass along the 'message' of what he had seen. Either Konoha had been digging into the birth-records and found a sore-spot to poke, or Sasuke had decided to use his own long dead twin against Itachi. For what?

A lure likely. Something to bring him out and into the open. No doubt Sasuke thought if Itachi felt an Uchiha's chakra signal, he would go running to kill them. And he had run for it... He was here, in the sound village, was he not? It was just not for the reason's his Ototo believed. Reasons, for Sasuke's own continued survival, Itachi had reinforced inside of him. His brother was getting smarter, stronger too. That was good.

Then why did this revelation taste so bitter, so poisonous?

The signal was coming from the south, faintly fluttering on the breeze. Itachi turned and walked north. It was autumn, not spring and all the dragonflies were dead. Before he could re-enter the treeline, Kisame's voice echoed out behind him.

"I've seen those photo's you think you keep hidden. The ones of your brother and family... I bet they're on you right now. I ain't never known an Uchiha with green eyes... Until I saw the photo of you holding that toddler as a kid yourself. Little girl... Pretty green eyes. You can push that psychopathic, mass murdering act on others, but you can't on me. I know you. If I were you... If I didn't think for a hundred percent this was a trap, I wouldn't walk away from it. And really, you wouldn't have come running here if you hadn't believed in the first place. Or don't. Walk away. To be honest, I couldn't care less. I just want a decent place to eat in and you dithering back and forth on the line is testing my patience."

Itachi glanced south and then north. North, he walked away. He left it well enough alone. In the north, there would be no crushed hope. South, there was... Something. Be it a trap or... Well, something he would name when he came to that bridge. But there was something. Five heartbeats passed before he swiveled and headed north, a chuckling Kisame following his wake.

"I do not dither."

"Sure you don't kid."

* * *

 **Sasuke P.O.V**

Sasuke Uchiha was used to his own little excursions. It gave him a sense of freedom Konoha had never matched. Even he would admit in certain aspects, team missions and work had their own valid pro's that would be ignorant and foolish to over look. However, when it was just himself, when all he had to rely on was his own wits and skill, when he didn't have to put up with others pointless and often circulatory opinions, it was his favorite.

Orochimaru had been indulgent in this aspect. Gifting Sasuke with the rare ability to leave the compounds and bases solitarily. Many of his... 'Comrades' couldn't say the same. Even Orochimaru's so called favorites rarely got this privilege. Sasuke, two days after over hearing the conversation between Kabuto and Orochimaru, had been scheduled to depart that very day. Yet, Orochimaru had flimsily denied his departure with see through excuses and glass smiles.

Orochimaru couldn't keep him locked in forever. Not only would it delay his training and experience, it would also take away Orochimaru's other, less scientific, favorite pass time. Snubbing Konoha. When Sasuke was out and about, in the open, even on stealth missions, villagers saw him. And the funny thing about villagers was they liked to gossip, gossip traveled fast and without a single doubt, shady news of his appearances would reach a Konoha citizen.

Orochimaru never tried to rectify this, he took a sick sense of pleasure in letting Konoha know he had an Uchiha, an Uchiha that stayed of their own free will when Konoha had failed to do just that. Orochimaru, as valiantly as he would deny it, fell to base emotional needs and instincts. His sense of pride and jealousy being the top amongst those and when he could feed it, you could bet he would.

Nevertheless, this did not stop Sasuke's current problem. His seemingly endless confinement when he had things he needed to be doing. Things outside the eye sight and ear shot of Orochimaru and his faithful followers.

"Sasuke-kun, I really wish you would stop passing."

Sasuke stalled in his path, slowly eyeing over his shoulder towards the open door of his personal chambers, spotting Orochimaru casually leaning in the entry way. On his spartan bed, laid a single bundle. Necessities for his travel, ready and packed.

"I was meant to leave a week and a half ago, yet I am still here. How is my training meant to progress if I am... Stuck inside four walls?"

Often times, it was the only way to manipulate Orochimaru to his way of thinking. Reminding him of his training, his progression or lack there of. After all, he didn't want a weak vessel and Sasuke was practical and cynical enough of his own situation to use that and anything else to his advantage.

"Ah, but dear Sasuke-kun, I have come to fix just that."

"Hn."

Orochimaru slipped around the door frame, into his room, emptying the entrance. And with one sentence, a wave of his thin arm and a sickly smile, put a dent in Sasuke's already shaky plans.

"Karin, Juugo, Suigetsu, come in."

So this was it. This was Orochimaru's answer. Sasuke wasn't stupid. Orochimaru had not kept him in lock down because of one broken into base. Not because Sasuke was needed here. He was in confines because of what he had overheard. An unknown Uchiha on the loose in Otogakure. Orochimaru likely feared Sasuke would hear about the news and by himself would go looking. When alone, Sasuke's opinion couldn't be altered or convinced by faithful nin or Orochimaru himself. Or, if possible, Sasuke would end up running into this faceless individual and abandon Oto altogether.

The three people in question stopped in the doorway, just on the threshold, the invisible line that separated his own quarters to the hallway. They knew better than to enter without his own implicit invite, which he hadn't and wouldn't give. Sasuke beat down his own rising smirk.

"What are they doing here?"

Orochimaru was smart to not send him alone, especially now that he knew the 'big secret', but Orochimaru had fallen to his own failings. If the matter didn't outright concern him, his experimentations or his quest for immortality, Orochimaru often turned a blind eye to proceedings. A mistake if he didn't fix soon, he would live just long enough to regret. In this regard, he failed to see how, if Sasuke said the right thing, gave these three just the right amount of information and didn't disregard Orochimaru's orders entirely, they would follow him and do as he said.

"Why, they're going with you."

Of course, first, for appearance's sake, Sasuke would have to put up a 'fight'.

"This was meant to be a solo-mission. A simple one at that. I was meant to travel to the east-bay village and procure the new... Subjects for you. Why would I need an entourage?"

Orochimaru kicked off from the wall, sauntering towards Sasuke as he eyed him up and down in one slick movement. At this point, Sasuke was used to his appraisal, as if he was fruit still hanging on the tree, not quite ripe enough to pluck yet... But soon. Soon.

"Do not think of it as an entourage. Think of it as a work in your... Communication skills. You are not the only one here who needs to learn. Think of this as you helping your fellow sound Nin. Teach them."

Sasuke let his own eyes track the three at the door before he slanted his eyes back at Orochimaru, his bangs fluttering across his cheek. Even though he was looking at Orochimaru, he addressed the trio in the door.

"Fine. But we leave now. If you haven't packed, go and catch up. I will not wait for you. Orochimaru-sama."

And with a fell swoop, Sasuke plucked up his own bundle, nodded in respect to Orochimaru as he passed him and headed out the door. The three split apart to give him room like he was infectious, although Karin did slip in behind him close after he was passed.

"We're all ready Sasuke-kun!"

Sasuke ignored her and the multiple footsteps that followed, echoing down the halls, sounding like the splatter of rain against a window pane. He took the long way around, just in case Orochimaru's little lapdog Kabuto was spying, checking exactly what exit he was taking. In this, today, with what he had planned, Sasuke couldn't be too careful. When sunlight greeted them from the doorless exit and Sasuke stepped into the light, heading out, Karin was the first to speak up.

"Sasuke-kun... This is the South exit... This isn't the way to East-bay. We need to go back and head to the other side of the bas-"

"That is because we are not going to East-bay. Not yet. I... Have something I need to look into first. Now, either return to base or be silent and follow. It is your choice."

Luckily, they followed and Orochimaru, for the moment, was none the wiser to Sasuke's little... Detour.

* * *

 **Hari's P.O.V**

It had been three days. Three days further south. Three days closer to Konoha... Three days further away from Uchiha Sasuke. Three days of endless questions, always being watched, being cuffed, dragged around, marched, prodded, stared at. It was the fourth night now, soon to be four days by the horizon beginning to lighten.

"Why are you here?... How did you get here?... What happened at the Otogakure base?... Do you have anything to say?... At all? Or are you going to keep playing the silent game?"

Hari glared at the silver-haired man who was bearing down upon her, obviously, her vow of silence was over as the man had grown fed up of his questions going unanswered. Kakashi, he had said his name was, as well as the girl, Sakura, who was currently sleeping. In fact, Sakura freaked her out the most... She wouldn't stop looking at her, watching, sitting uncomfortably close. At least this Kakashi fellow got down to business instead of just watching her, as if she was some sort of interesting artifact to ponder and preen over. Hari smirked over at him.

"Yes, actually, I think I do. Should I die during this moronic mission of yours, donate all my organs to those in need... Except for my middle finger, you and Konoha can fucking keep that."

Hari had no idea where bright eyes was, nor did she know his name. He had been gone the moment she had groggily greeted her kidnappers. Kidnappers. What a funny term. She was no longer a child, she hadn't been for a long time, and yet, here she was, cuffed with special bracelets that drained her Chakra and strapped to a boulder like she was in time out.

Some days came easier than others. Some days she could ignore the questions and looks and plan. Scheme. Dream of escaping and finding Itachi and Sasuke. Those were the days where she felt like she was carved from clear ice and sharp crystal. Stone. Cold. Hard. Blank. They couldn't touch her. She was too far away. They didn't matter. None of this mattered. It was a setback, not a failure. She just had to bide her time.

Then, some days she was made of lave and mercury and her blood was boiling. She would swear, snarl, dammit, she had even tried to bite Sakura at one point when she ignorantly just tried to touch her forehead scar without warning. She was made of venom and spit, temperamental. She hated them both those days. Truly, deeply hated them.

What right did they have to just take her? What right did they have to force her to conform to their perception? What right did they have to take her control from her? Control over her own life. Hers, no one elses. Hers! All her life, that one thing, it had always been snatched from her. Dumbledore. Voldemort. Aunt Petunia. Now these two. Perhaps that's why she disliked them so much, for they hadn't treated her unfairly, they had given her food and water, Pinky had even seen to her wounds the best they could on the move, but they took one thing Hari would never give. After the war, even with all the things she had seen in this land, she had gained control over her own life. She had tasted it, felt the sweet ambrosia sooth her war wounds and now... Now it was gone again and Hari couldn't, wouldn't go back to that hapless, vulnerable little girl again. She refused to dance to another's tune again.

Then there was today. Endless walking. The same questions on repeat. The same exact glances she had come to expect. The sky felt heavy and oppressive. Dull. Time ticked by too slowly to be natural. It had felt like it would never end and Hari had felt trapped between that blissful ice and that passionate fire. Mush and ash. That's what she felt like today. A soft sigh from Kakashi beckoned a snort from Hari.

"Uchiha-san, we really do only want to help you... I really only want to help you. We're taking you to Konoha. We're taking you home."

Hari frowned. Home. Another funny word. Without Lily or James, Godric's hollow was a house. Without Sirius black, Grimmauld place was just an empty husk of a house. No character. No hearth. Just looming shadows and painful memories. Malfoy Manor, compared to the warm, laughter filled bubble of the Weasley's home was, yet again, just a house. Once, in Muggle primary school, her teacher had asked the class to draw a picture of home. She remembered her classmate's pictures well. Shaky lines. Pointed roofs. Square windows. Hers... Hers had been just stick drawings, a small girl with knobbly knees and wild hair holding the hands of two grownups.

Only now, looking back, did she realize she had given the woman long black hair, pin straight, and the man dark brown with a stern line for the mouth, a blob of blue with huge wings dancing above her head, one she had scrawled dragonfly across because even she had a hard time knowing exactly what it was if she looked away from the picture too long. Nevertheless, Hari had never understood how people equated houses to homes. When Hari answered Kakashi, her voice was soft, the lightest it had ever been, dreamy almost, and yet it cut through the night like a church bell ringing right in your ear.

"Home isn't something as mundane as brick, wood or mortar. Home is a feeling. Deep in your chest. Home is people. Home... My home is my family. It's Itachi and Sasuke. By the way you all keep dodging my questions of where they are, I doubt they're in Konoha and as long as they're not there, you're not taking me home. You're keeping me from it."

Kakashi P.O.V

Kakashi found he couldn't argue with her. Not one word of protest or dispute could leave his lips. She was, in her own way, right. And really, who was he to push his perception onto her? He found his eye gliding down to her cuffed wrists and for a nano-second, he had the strange thought of unlocking them. Of letting her run free. Perhaps she would find her brothers, perhaps she could fix them and herself in turn. Perhaps she could make this home she spoke so fondly of. Perhaps, after all the blood and death and pain and loss, the Uchiha could have a happy ending.

But then the thought died like a wilted flower. Itachi would kill her. Brutally. And to Kakashi, he already thought Sasuke was already too far gone. He too would likely use her as a pawn against Itachi. He wouldn't, couldn't have a hand in that outcome. He had a Uchiha friend once, a brother, who had been all smiles and sarcastic remarks, one who held a light very much like Hari did. Obito had died. Kakashi didn't think he could stomach watching or hearing of someone so like Obito dying... Not again. So, he would take her to Konoha, she would be safe and that was the end of that.

"Itachi-san... Sasuke-san... Your brothers are not what you think they are."

He saw her angle her chin up, bright, green eyes staring fathomlessly into the starless night sky. She did look an awful lot like Sasuke, there was no doubt in that. In fact, when she first woke up, when she was angry and vengeful and spewing curse words at them that even he had no idea existed, that fire only solidified her connection to Sasuke. The same passion, the same glint in the eye, the same nasty smirk that pulled at the corner of their lips when they said a rather vicious thing that cut people deep. Both of them had a knack for pinpointing someones emotional weakness and using words like Kunai to stab, slice and dice it to bits.

"And I highly doubt I'll be what they think I am. But without action, without trying, we will never know."

But here, and other times when she became blank, almost lost in her own mind, bathed in shadowed moonlight, if you looked at her just right at exactly the right moment before she could slam her guard up, he saw underneath that fire and bite. He saw the raw sorrow shading the corners of her eyes. Haunted. He saw the pensive twist to her thin eyebrows, as if she was pondering life's great mysteries. He saw the weary linger of shake that wracked her body, a shake of a soldier that had seen too much, done too much, been through too much. And then, only then, despite Kakashi not knowing him as much as others, he saw Itachi's phantom overlay her own face and skin.

"Your hope is admirable. But I've seen hope crush bigger, better men and yours, I'm sorry to say, is faulty."

From her turned face, he could just see the smile slither onto her face. For a smile, it was a sad thing. Melancholy rich and poignant. Like ink spilled on a new scroll.

"And I'll likely be the next one crushed too. But look around you. Really look. Hope is the only thing I, we, any of us have anymore. Hope is what pushes good people to do good things. Hope makes better men and women of us all. Hope is what will make a better tomorrow. In my eyes, there is no such thing as 'faulty' hope. Just hope. And wherever there's hope, there's a way. Where there's Sasuke or Itachi, I will be there. You can't say anything to change my mind. You can delay me by taking me to Konoha, but you won't stop the outcome. I'll find them. Eventually."

He didn't see the fire that reminded him of Sasuke. He didn't see the pensive slate that made him picture Itachi. Instead, with her eyes closed, smile still in place, facing the empty sky, he saw Uchiha Hari for the first time. He saw a young woman, filled with hope and love, peaceful and unfaltering. Almost like a weed that against the odds, broke through the concrete and set up home in the worst environment for it possible... And yet, bloomed like a rose all the same.

He had to swallow the sudden bile that rose in his throat. If he had been debating on whether taking her to Konoha was a good idea before, now he was sure. Itachi would eat her alive. He would massacre that hope and love like he had the Uchiha clan. When she finally understood what Sasuke had done, what he had become, that wish for a home will taste like poison on her tongue. The one thing she wanted most, her brothers, would totally destroy her in the end. Poetic, in a way. Tragic too.

He had known an Uchiha with that hope before, that lightness to them. A life time ago, he had a brother who had been eerily just as sentimental as Uchiha Hari... And he was dead. Obito was dead and bones in the ground. He couldn't help Obito, but he could help Hari.

Distractedly, Kakashi's eye slanted as he peered into the dark. Once again, he could feel the flare of two Chakra signals spark on the very edge of his awareness. Strong Chakra signals. He didn't need to think hard to know who they were. They were close again, too close if he could feel them. Every time they rested, even but for an hour or two, they crept up and forced them to push their weary bodies faster. The second time it had happened on the second day, Kakashi had sent Neji ahead to get reinforcements, only he knew the reinforcements would only make it to the border of Otogakure. The Hogake couldn't risk sending in a bigger force into the already trembling unworded alliance they had with the sound village.

So, by the speed and sheer determination of the chakra signatures following them, Kakashi would give it a day, day and a half tops before the two caught up with them. Which means he had to get him, Sakura and Uchiha Hari to the borders before then. Oh, Kami.

"Sakura-chan, wake up! It's time we get a move on."

Sakura groaned deeply before she heaved herself up, beginning to pack her bedroll without any questions. Kakashi himself kicked off from the tree he was leaning on, strolling over to Hari to unchain her and help her stand, keeping her in front of him and in his eye sight.

 _I'll find them. Eventually._ Isn't that what Hari had said? They needed to move and move now. For, if they didn't, Kakashi didn't think Hari would have to search at all. Itachi would find her instead.

* * *

 **Did I do gooooood?**

Either way, I hope this is atleast a step into making up for the long time between updates and I really do hope you enjoyed it. As I said previously, the next chapter should be out within the next week. SHOULD, fingers crossed nothing else goes wrong. XD If there is going to be a delay, I'll write it up on my profile.

As always, thank you for taking time out of your lives to read this, I hope you liked it and will like whats to come and please, if you have a moment, leave a review. Until next time, stay beautiful! ~AlwaysEatTheRude21


	8. Mimic

**Hari's P.O.V**

Have you ever stood outside in the middle of a sunny day, UV rays pelting down upon you and looked down... Only to find you didn't have a shadow? You've never had a shadow? You know you should have one, it should be right there, a constant companion, behind you, by your side, in front of you, and yet it's gone. It had existed once, in a dream maybe, another life even, but now, all you knew now was the state of being shadowless. That was the only way Hari Uchiha could explain how she had felt her whole life. Shadowless. Lonely. Incomplete.

It wasn't a strong feeling, neither was it painful. It wasn't on her mind twenty-four seven, but the feel, the loss, it was always niggling at the nape of her neck. Prickling her skin. It had felt like while she had slumbered as a child, the world had shifted a sharp inch to the right, everything and everyone just out of place and sync. Barely, but to her, it was noticeable. So very, very noticeable.

After the fall of Voldemort, she had put it down to what he had done to her. Shattered her soul to lodge in a piece of his own. Snatching her shadow from her. After all, she was the first and only human Horcrux. There was no book or therapist she could go to that could tell her what she had felt was normal or completely off kilter.

Perhaps she was the shadow now and she was missing the person that had cast her. But one thing remained. Shadows and people couldn't survive without one another. And that feeling of inevitable doom, as irrational as it was, even after Voldemort's death, still haunted her. Perhaps it was all in her mind, but that didn't make it any less real. Of course she would feel more than slightly hollow. However, that was until that day.

Hari, Kakashi and Sakura had been trekking southwards since the sun had tickled the horizon with honey hues. Nothing new there. If there was one thing Hari could say she liked about this land, even with her experiences thus far, it was that somehow, someway, the sun seemed... Brighter. More alive and fiery. If any sun was going to give her shadow back, it would be this one.

Last night Kakashi had awoken Sakura in a tempered haste and pushed them all to move on. He had tried to act as if nothing was amiss, and Hari would have swallowed that lie readily if she herself didn't see the dark purple bags forming under his one visible eye.

 _They were running from something... Or someone.  
_

They had to be. Why was there such a rush? Why did Kakashi deny himself more than an hour sleep? Why was everyone walking on pins and needles? Because she was an outsider? No... Not by the way Kakashi eyed and watched the tree line when dusk fell. Something was coming. Something big.

Hari couldn't bring herself to care very much. Friend or foe on their tails, only escape mattered. That day, under the pretense of sleepiness and weariness, Kakashi had missed Hari plucking up a shard of thin metal from the ground she had been sitting on with an over exaggerated yawn. Likely a remnant of a battle fought not long ago. Now, with Hari, it would see one last battle. The battle against captivity.

It would be useless as a weapon. Too thin and frail. More needle than knife. Nevertheless, it came in handy. With her hands locked in cuffs as they were, pressing into her belly, her shirt gave her just enough coverage to hide the little piece of metal, and subsequently, what she had been spending hours doing while Kakashi marched her forward and closer to Konoha.

Scratching off the Runes... Or as Kakashi called them, seals that bond her in them and subsequently, sucked her very Chakra from her unwilling body. It was time-consuming, infallibly dull and nothing like her normal, flamboyant escapes of previous adventures, but as she managed to scratch off the second seal, when she felt the bite of life zing and heat the pit of her stomach, her Chakra building in her veins, by Merlin was it worth all the effort.

Hari was on her fourth seal now, the last one that kept her shackled and trapped, just a few more scratches from freedom, when she saw Sakura's spine stiffen. Sakura braced herself, the wind whipping her hair around her face, fingers heading towards her own weapons pack she kept dangling from her waist.

Hari had eyed that pack the whole way, calculated how close she would have to get to the pinkette before she shimmied the shackles off and nabbed it. Debating within herself if she was fast enough to dodge one of Sakura's heavy fists if she decided to swing it at her. If she could just get through the last one... While they were distracted by whatever it was they were focusing on, she could make a run for it and-...

That was when she felt it.

It was her but wasn't. It was more... Darker. Translucent. Decadent. A chakra signal... So far away, but so close she thought she could reach out and brush her fingers across its glossy, rippling surface. The feel of it felt like someone reaching deep into her chest and yanking on her still beating heart. The water to her air.

Hari took a step forward, towards the signal, when she noticed the ground beneath her feet, her shadow mimicking her movements and the lack of niggling in the base of her skull. Her shadow or her person, the sun to her moon or the moon to her sun... She didn't feel hollow... One name ghosted along the edges of her mind. It was him. She knew it, deep down, with all her conviction, she knew him... Just like one would know their own shadow from someone else's.

 _Sasuke._

However, before Kakashi could either reach out and drag her back or Hari would mentally say 'fuck the cuffs, fuck weapons and fuck plans' and make a run for it anyway, another signal flickered into her awareness... Right to her left.

It reminded her of a blanket, old, cozy, one you've had since you were in the crib. The type Hari used to raise over her head, locked in her cupboard, and pretend she was somewhere else when swathed in its warm darkness. A magical blanket that protected her from reality, chased away the boogie-men, saved her from uncle Vernon and aunt Petunia. It enveloped her, settled, wrapped and cocooned... And Hari didn't fight it, she welcomed it. It felt like home. Her steps stopped and her gaze snapped to its direction.

"Which way are they coming from Kakashi-sensei?"

Hari frowned, the flick and slide of her little needle gliding across her cuff swinging faster and faster. Hari wearily gazed between Kakashi and Sakura and then towards the two people lurking at the edge of the clearing. Was pink-wonder being serious?

"Well, based on the speed and direction of the wind, the movement of the leaves, the broken twigs on the ground, I would say they're coming from our direct left."

Sakura twirled to face her, eyes wide.

"You can tell that? Do you specialize in tracking?"

Hari chuckled humourlessly, one hand finally sliding free from the restraints, all seals broken. Although, she kept it securely in front of her. No use tipping off Kakashi and Sakura before she was ready to pounce.

While these guys battled, she would make a run for it. It was her only chance to get the hell away. To get to Sasuke. He was so close. She could feel him. When would she get another chance like this?

But for them to battle, they had to know they were here, and for some strange reason, neither of Kakashi or Sakura could see the pair lurking in the trees, dressed in weird decorative cloaks and conical straw hats that hid their faces.

"No, you bloody idiot. I see them through the trees, you would too if you looked, they're right there. Black cloaks with red clouds you said, yes?"

This was the first time she saw Kakashi lose his cool, even after all her jabs and sarcastic remarks aimed at him and his team-mate. That being said, as much as it worried her, it was slightly amusing to see the one with the cool head swear.

"Fuck, Genjutsu! Take Hari-san Sakura and run!"

Hari didn't argue as Sakura dashed for her, plucking up her elbow and hauling her in the opposite direction. After all, if the two were separate, she had a higher chance of taking one out of the game. And let's face it, Hari would take taking on Sakura over Kakashi any day. However, just before they could fully leave the clearing, Hari's gaze snapped back to the two now entering it. The chakra from the shorter one... It felt like home. Should she really leave?

* * *

 **Itachi's P.O.V**

It had turned into a game of cat and mouse with the Chakra signature. At first, it had been alone, solitary, heading in an easy path towards the north. However, that had changed four days ago, when it had taken a steep and fast decline to the south. It wasn't until Itachi had gotten close enough to the signal that he had realized why there was a sudden divert in course. Where it had been alone, in the beginning, it wasn't any longer.

Leaf-nin. Or, to be more precise, the copy-nin and his Ototo's old team-mate, a Sakuma... Or Sakuno, Sakura? The pink-haired Kunoichi's name mattered not, they had joined the signal that had grown weaker and weaker as the hours had passed, its decline only hastening as much as its sudden trip down south. It could still be a trap.

The outlook wasn't good. It could have been in the north to draw him to it, only to lead him south and towards Konoha in a game of 'catch me if you can'. Sasuke and Konoha in league with one another. As Itachi had previously stated, the outlook wasn't good.

However, in the light of recent revelations, Itachi couldn't believe it. Sasuke's signal had joined the fray just a day and a half ago, on the very peripheral of awareness, but there all the same. And it was coming in hot and fast, faster than it should if his brother was stopping at all during his run. Now, it would be easy to think Sasuke was after him, but from the feel of it, while no doubt Sasuke knew Itachi was here and close, Sasuke was tracking the signal and not following Itachi. Which meant Sasuke wanted answers too, wanted them enough to abandon a chance at killing Itachi to gain them.

By all intents and purposes, if Sasuke was in league with Konoha, this would make sense... If the Copy-nin, his old team mate and the mimicking interloper's, according to his own tracking, wasn't dodging not just Itachi's advances, but Sasuke's too. So... Which one had they originally been trying to lure out?

Could it be they were using this mimic to lure both him and Sasuke out simultaneously? Doubtful. Taking one of them on with just the Copy-nin and Sakura would be idiotic, never mind both. Perhaps they had only intended to draw one out and accidentally got a buy one get one free offer. Either way, what Itachi wanted had not changed.

He needed to know who was pretending to be Tonbo. So, he would track. He would follow. He would swim and dive and run and not sleep until he got his answer. An answer he got seven days since he had first felt the signal.

Kakashi Hatake was good. One of the best. A worthy opponent. But, he was alone, tired and on the run. A combination that inevitably led to mistakes. Mistakes Itachi could exploit. His first and only mistake had been going straight for the quickest route to Konoha's borders. To do so, he had to cross a bridge, a bridge Kisame and Itachi could circumvent from their position and cut them off at the very south clearing of Otogakure. Then, there had been only a short wait before the three Leaf-nin ran straight into his trap.

Kakashi had been the first to skid into the clearing. Eyes darting about himself, checking the area, his student tumbling in after him. She, Sakura or Sakuma, was slightly red in the face, chest heaving and once she saw Kakashi scoping out the area, she joined the effort. Another mistake. In a single blink, a wrong look in a shadowy corner, Itachi had the two under Genjutsu.

However, the pink-haired girl, after a nod from Kakashi, reached into the dense trees they had just broken from and pulled forward the third of their trio. The missing link.

"Touch me again Pinky and I swear, as soon as I'm out of these cuffs, I'll break your bloody neck."

The voice was husky, deep like the open sea, a crackle to its edges like a burning log. All smoke and heat. The person wrenched themselves out of Sakura's, Itachi was sure it was Sakura now that he had seen the pink hair again, hold and straightened out, stepping out of the looming shadows the trees cast on the wide field, head held high.

His airway closed, his lungs solidified and his feet grew roots.

The woman was tall, lithe. The same statuesque grace and sweeping, willowy curves his mother had. A beauty that had been well sorted after amongst the Uchiha clan before his father had finally won her hand after taking a rather harsh beating from his mothers brothers. Her features were feline, slick, sharp swoops and cutting edges. Almost too sharp in some aspects, but held a softness like velvet around the steel edges that Sasuke's own feline features didn't hold.

Her hair was also the same midnight blue Sasuke's was, bangs tickling eyelashes and cheeks. Although, hers exploded into curls that fluttered in the wind. Her mouth was currently a slit like a knifes edge, grim, eyes stern and full of green fire as she glared at Sakura after she had spoken. A look Itachi knew all too well, had been on the receiving end of it years ago. His father had had the same glare. One Itachi had always been sure could stop a raging bear right in its tracks and bend it into submission.

She was a pale thing, all ivory and cream and colors that clashed against each other, yet complimented in their boisterous display. Blue-black, white, green, with a tinge of pink to the apple of her cheeks. Kisame's voice crackled through the haze he was in.

"Well... Shit. If she isn't a damned Uchiha, I'm not fucking blue."

Itachi's Chakra flared in an unheard of moment of indiscipline and instability before he could stamp it back down. Unfortunately, it was enough to tip off the Copy-nin and Sakura.

"Which way are they coming from Kakashi-sensei?"

She was dead. Gone. A ghost. This was a trap. Yet... Yet here she was, his little Tonbo... Not so little anymore. He could hear the dragonflies buzz in his ears, feel them dancing on the wind, saw her smile every time he blinked. He had always thought, if she had lived, her curls would grow to be as wild as she had been. And they had... Hadn't. No. It wasn't her. His heart raced in excitement as it equally broke in the conclave of his chest.

"Well, based on the speed and direction of the wind, the movement of the leaves, the broken twigs on the ground, I would say they're coming from our direct left."

The mimic scoffed, but then straightened out, eyes darting to a far off place to her right. She took a step, Kakashi followed, but it was her eyes that had caught Itachi's attention.

They had turned red.

He swore it, for a split second, a fraction of cruel time, she had the Sharingan swirling in her eyes before she blinked and it disappeared. But that couldn't be. That... The Sharingan couldn't be mimicked or copied.

No. He wanted it too much. He wanted this... This abomination to be his Tonbo. His emotions were skewing his reality as they so often did to everybody. For, if you wanted something enough, you would see it everywhere you would go. And by Kami, did Itachi know that was the truth of life.

"You can tell that? Do you specialize in tracking?"

Then she looked at him. Straight at him. Dead in the eye. Black met Green and suddenly, Itachi's lungs were filled with air and butterflies. Those eyes... He had dreamed of those eyes before. Remembered them with perfect clarity. Or, he thought he had until he saw them again and realized how foggy and useless his memory had been compared to the real things right there, just in reaching distance.

"No, you bloody idiot. I see them through the trees, you would too if you looked, they're right there. Black cloaks with red clouds you said, yes?"

Then Kakashi was cursing, Sakura was hauling away the mimic and Itachi leapt from the treeline, Kisame hot on his heels.

* * *

 **Hari's P.O.V**

Hari let Sakura drag her into the forest just far enough to be hidden from the people behind them, the sound of clashing metal and groaning earth booming out and fracturing the silence. There was something... Wrong here. Something she was missing. But no matter how hard she tried to put the puzzle together, the pieces turned to ash in her hand. One thing remained in the dust. Hari was done being a prisoner.

Sakura was too busy tugging her along by the elbow, eyes focusing on the path ahead, to notice Hari's hands slip free from the Chakra cuffs, fingering the chain that held the two together... Pulling it taut. On the exhale of a large breath, Hari jumped forward while simultaneously yanking Sakura back by pulling her elbow free.

Using one hand to swing the cuffs and chain that linked the two around Sakura's neck, Hari pulled and pulled hard, strangling the pinkette, using her free hand to dart into the medic-nins weapon pouch to pull out a Kunai, digging the tip into the back of her shoulder blades, right on her spinal cord, trapped between two vertebrae. One wrong move on girl wonders side, and Hari wouldn't hesitate to slice right through her fucking spine.

For the first time since Hari had arrived in the Elemental nations, covered in blood, sweat and dirt, hearing the breath leave Sakura in a gust and torrent, she felt like a real Shinobi... A real Uchiha. However, her little slice of victory was overshadowed by Sakura's groggy, broken and desperate voice. Hari pulled harder on the chain.

"You can't go back to him! He'll kill you! Just let Kakashi take care of him and we'll get you home!"

Go back to who?... The Signature... The people with funny cloaks and hats... Did Hari know one? Or, at least, did the Leaf-nin think she knew them? Know them enough to want to go back there? But Kakashi knew she was only after her brothers-... No... They wouldn't... They would.

They had dragged her this far, against her will, hadn't they? They had ignored her pleas, her reasons, and they had turned a blind eye and deaf ear. Always 'We're taking you home', 'You don't understand', 'It'll be clear when you get back to Konoha, back home'. How could they not understand there was no home without Itachi or Sasuke?

Hari needed a definitive answer, she was tired of chasing phantoms and rumors and the only way to get that was to play along. If Sakura asked her what the hell she was talking about, she was wrong. If she knew... Well, blood will be spilled that day. Leaning in, Hari snarled in her ear, keeping an eye on Sakura's hands to make sure pinky wasn't going to swing or reach for a weapon.

"And Why wouldn't I go back? He's my brother."

Sakura shook her head violently, tugging on the tightening chain around her neck, the short locks tickling Hari's face, the sweet smell of flowers nearly making her sneeze. At the twitch of Sakura's hands in the direction of her weapons pouch, Hari's kunai slipped and slid into place across her pale neck. A warning... A dare.

"You don't understand... You brother... Itachi... He's bad news... We're trying to help you!"

Hari snarled, digging the kunai deeper into the soft flesh of Sakura's throat. Those... Those bastards! No wonder they had not told her who 'They' were. They, the 'Akatsuki' as it was, had turned out to be her brother, Itachi, and what had they done? They had tried to manipulate her away. They had come with false smiles, then fought her. They had refused to tell her much, saying it was 'classified', yet had expected her to spill her guts. They had said they were offering her a home, a safe place, only as she declined, they had chained her up and took her anyway! Then, just as she was starting to like them, she finds this out! The only reason she now knew the truth was because, frankly, Sakura couldn't keep her mouth shut, not when Kakashi wasn't around to stop Hari from getting inside her head...

Kakashi! He was back there, fighting Itachi... Itachi was here! She had to get back to that clearing, she had to get to Itachi, even if she had to get through both Sakura and Kakashi to do so, even with her still weak arm and lack of weapons. Only... She didn't need to fight now, did she... Hari had the perfect bargaining chip right in front of her, and they, Sakura and Kakashi, didn't need to know she wouldn't actually kill them, they didn't know her enough to call her bluff. Her refusal to tell them anything had ensured that fact.

Hari had a plan.

"Yes, well, this is coming from the girl and man who have shackled me against my will, fought me while I was injured and are currently carting me off to a Village I have no desire of going to or staying in. I think, in this matter, 'bad news' is subjective. Now shut up and be a good little hostage. I have a reunion to get to and I can't have Kakashi having all the fun."

The crack of her and Sakura apparating barely broke through the sound of the battle they were heading straight back into.

* * *

 **Itachi's P.O.V**

Kakashi was putting up a good fight, Itachi would admit. More defensive than offensive, but it worked to his favor all the same. Somehow the copy-nin had managed to move the fight away from the clearing and into an adjacent one, further away from the direction Sasuke's old teammate had dragged the mimic.

"Did you really think a mimic would work? That I wouldn't see through it? Konoha's standards have dropped dramatically since my Ototo's departure it seems."

Kakashi blocked the kick towards his face and backflipped away. Both of them knew Itachi wasn't seriously trying to hurt him, the fight was more a play. No, both knew Itachi was goading, prying, waiting for a slip so he could get an answer. Answers Kakashi seemed to be dodging as much as he was Itachi's attacks.

"Mimic? Well, I have to say it has worked if that's your response."

Kakashi's answer came with a hail of shuriken. Itachi almost smiled. Almost. However, as he flicked two away from him with a pair of Kunai and caught the one inches from his face, there was a flicker from the clearing followed by a loud crack.

Kakashi landed back on his feet, both of them turning in the direction of the field they had vacated. This time, a small smile did break out on Itachi's face. Kakashi, however, swore underneath his breath before he re-focused on Itachi, coming at him full force with a Kunai in hand. It was easily blocked.

"It seems the mimic's back to play hero. How sweet."

Kakashi threw a punch, which Itachi blocked with his leg. It carried on for a few seconds, a dance that Itachi quickly grew fed up with before landing a solid kick to Kakashi's sternum, sending him flailing backward, kicking up grass and stones. As he slowed, crouched, he finally looked Itachi dead in the eye, his own one flashing to red as he snarled.

"I won't let you hurt her!"

This gave Itachi a moment to pause, head cocking to the side slightly. Now... That was different. Not expected. If this was one huge ruse to get him or Sasuke out and in the open, why should Kakashi care what he did to the mimic? Then again, Konoha, especially the team's teachers, were often known for their more... Sensitive sensibilities.

Kakashi was worried about what Itachi would do to her. Ah. They had been after Sasuke. Sasuke had not shown yet and they were scared Itachi would take away their new toy before it could be used against his Ototo. Using Hari... Sasuke's own twin against him. Now, that, Itachi couldn't let happen.

"Oh, I'm going to rip her still beating heart from her chest... And there's nothing you can do about it."

Glancing over his shoulder to his silent blue friend, Itachi nodded.

"Kisame... Take over. Keep him busy while I finish this."

"No!"

Kakashi made another run for Itachi, a foolish hope in keeping him away. However, Kisame had already unsheathed Samehada and had jumped into the fray, effectively blocking all attempts to get near the field the signal was coming from. With one last glance at Kakashi, Itachi disappeared into the treeline, back towards the field and the mimic that had just teleported back into it.

* * *

 **Hari's P.O.V**

The clearing was empty. The. Clearing. Was. Fucking. Empty. The only thing stopping Hari from losing her temper and either stabbing Sakura or pulling her own hair out by the roots was the quiet hum of metal hitting metal ghosting along the wind. The battle was still going on, Itachi was still here... Close. It wasn't over yet.

Hari was well versed and used to apparition... Sakura, however, was not. As they materialized in the field with a crack, Sakura doubled over, vomiting. In an act to not get covered in sick, Hari let go of pinky. Not fully, just enough to get out of the line of spray. Although, that seemed to be exactly what Sakura had wanted her to do, as she swung her head back, cracking Hari straight in the face.

"Bloody hell!"

The glint of a Kunai appeared, slicing through the air and Hari barely managed to lift her bandaged hand and grab the thing by the blade before it took it's home in her shoulder... Her already fucked shoulder. So, Sakura liked to play dirty did she?

"I can't let you go to him."

Sakura and Hari stood there, feet braced, facing one another, both holding onto the Kunai, small rivets of blood sliding down Hari's arm from her sliced palm. For an inexplicable reason, the blood caught her attention, snatching all other thought from her mind. That was her blood. The same that gave her brothers life. The same as her parents. The same as those who came before them... That blood held the secrets and history of a whole clan... Her clan. Not the Uchiha clan. Not her brother's clan. Her clan.

 _Hers._

Since her arrival here, Hari had been fighting like a witch. Thinking like a witch. Acting like a witch... Playing at being Hari Potter. And she wasn't one. That wasn't her name. This land housed no wizard and she was no Potter. She was an Uchiha.

Snape, Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna, they would always mean something to her. They would always be a part of her life, her heart and history, but they weren't her people. The shinobi was... And it was time she started acting like one. As she blinked, the world faded to black for Hari Potter and as they slid open, she saw the world for the first time as Hari Uchiha.

"I am Hari Uchiha. This is my home. They are my family. And you can't stop me."

Hari couldn't explain it, not really, not to the full extent. Of course she had felt her chakra before, that little well in her chest and rivers that swam through her veins. But before, it had felt dulled, muted, grays and beiges. However, before, she hadn't known it was muted, dreary little trickles. It had been what she had simply known.

Before... Before, while she had been denying exactly what and who she was. Now, as she stood proudly, adrenaline pumping through her being, she felt those rivers burst into a tsunami of multi color. The bruising on her arm faded, her shoulder knitted back together, flesh clean and unmarked... Eye's blinking to crimson and onyx that swirled.

Up until this very point, somewhere deep down, she had been denying who and what she was. Denial of the very thing you are... Well, it led to her own Chakra to become turbulent, antagonistic, unforgiving, a poison in her own DNA. Her own inside enemy that had fucked her arm over and stilted her abilities.

She had still held onto being a witch. She had played it safe, doing what she knew how. Being a witch was easy. She knew the boundaries and the rules. The only thing she had accepted was having a family, having blood out there... She hadn't accepted her name. Here, in this very field, she came to realize she was an Uchiha. With and without Itachi and Sasuke, she was and always would be an Uchiha.

And an Uchiha didn't break. They didn't bow. They didn't give in.

"I am not going to Konoha!"

Hari's free fist clenched, condensing, constricting. Sakura's gaze flickered down and widened a fraction. Her ace card used straight back at her. Sakura really shouldn't have shown Hari what she could do. Hari didn't rightly know how she knew what to do to replicate Sakura's monstrous strength, she only knew she could. And if she could, she would. Drawing her fist back, Hari sent it sailing right into Sakura's chest before the pinkette could let go of the Kunai and dodge.

Dropping the Kunai, ignoring the sting in her palm, Hari apparated once more, appearing behind Sakura as the Kunoichi fell through the air. Grasping onto her back, Hari swung her into the tree line with a well-aimed kick.

"I will not be a prisoner!"

Crack. Hari appeared at her side just as Sakura crumbled into a wide, old tree, splinters flying and the groaning of wood humming in their ears. Hari's hand darted out, harshly grasping Sakura by her throat, fingers bruising the soft, ample flesh of her jawline. Picking her up so her feet dangled, Hari snarled in her face.

"I will not bow and follow like a dog!"

And with a toss, Sakura was flying back into the clearing, body rolling as it skidded in the dry dirt, bits of grass and mud popping like confetti. Crack. Hari appeared just where Sakura rolled to, holding her foot out to stop the body from going any further. Just as sole met neck, Hari stomped, cutting of Sakura's airway, pinning her beneath her sandal cladded feet. Leaning over Sakura's body, Hari had just one last thing to say.

"I am a Uchiha and I am going home!"

Hari's eyes flickered back to green. If she was going to kill someone, the least she could offer was to look at them with her own eyes. Before Hari could press her foot in deeper, twist her ankle and snap the Kunoichi's neck, something hard and long barreled into her side, sending her tumbling through the air.

"You."

Hari had just enough time to swivel mid-air and ungracefully land on her two feet, long, unkempt hair fluttering over her face. Crouching, one knee on the floor, another bent at a nighty-degree angle with her palms flat on the floor, Hari peered through the curtain of her hair and sucked in a deep breath.

"Stop it. Now Kunoichi. Your little trick of playing at being 'enemies' will not fool me."

It was him. Itachi. She knew that face. She knew those eyes. She knew him. He was here... Between the space that separated them, the wind howled and barked, whipping their hair around their faces. But it mattered not. She saw him.

He was taller than the hazy child she remembered. Leaner too. Paler, the lines on his face deeper and longer. Grim and harsh in their cut down from his eyes. His eyes were cold, distant, a dying star. But it was him!

"Itachi-... I was lookin-... It's you!"

Hari stood, took a lone step forward, smile bright and wide and toothy. However, as she blinked, Itachi was in front of her, fist implanted in her stomach, sending her crashing to her knee's from the blow, a gust of hair and spittle flying from her mouth, coughing profusely as she was winded.

A long fingered hand slithered around her neck, clenching as it hoisted her up to stand, her own hands instinctively clasping and pulling at the hand that was choking her as she was turned to face Itachi once more. Her blood smeared across his alabaster skin.

Why was he choking her? Did he not remember her like she remembered him? Had he really forgotten her? Itachi's hand clenched around her throat, cutting off her struggling gasps and any chance she had to speak, her feet leaving the earth to dangle uselessly underneath her.

"This will be your last warning Kunoichi. Drop the henge... Drop whatever it is you are using to steal that face that is not yours, quit this game while you still have breath in your lungs, and you and your team-mates can leave. Decline, taunt me with your lies and devious visage any more than you already have, I will personally skin Hatake-san and force your pink haired team-mate to eat it while I burn this village and forest to the ground around you. The choice is yours."

She wasn't wearing a henge, she wasn't under the use of Polyjuice potion, she wasn't wearing a fake face, this was her, how could she drop something that was true? His face was stoic, blank, a calm riverbed of ivory, but Hari could see, by Merlin she could see, the pain, the loss, the heartache shining in the very back of his eyes, flickering like a candle under the heavy wind. She could see him, Itachi, underneath the mask, she could see the little boy she had dreamed of, laughing with her, playing with her, bringing her something so sparse in her life that she treasured the thoughts of it. Happiness. She could see him. But he couldn't see her, he couldn't see the baby he used to play with, he couldn't see the woman she had become, he only saw a lie. He thought she was someone pretending to be her.

His fingers tightened, bruises already blooming and Hari couldn't breath. She couldn't speak. She couldn't tell him it was her, it was Tonbo, that she had come all this way to find him and Sasuke, that she was in fact, alive, here and standing in front of him. But she could show him.

Her bandaged hand, coated in blood of the relatively short fight, shook violently as she rose it, her other hand grasping and tugging at the hand choking her, drawing her life from her body, her fingers inched closer, trembling, inches from Itachi's face. Her thumb and forefinger curled into an o, and as the world around her began to blacken at the edges, consciousness slipping from her flexing grasp, Hari did the only thing she could think of that would show him it was her, it was Tonbo.

 _She flicked his nose._

* * *

 **Itachi's P.O.V**

She... She... She was here. Tonbo. His Tonbo was alive and well and breathing and pink... And bruised. Bruised from his very own hand strangling her. His hand let go, snapping back, he stumbled too, one step, two steps. Burned. He felt burned. She landed on her feet, but he could see the quiet quake in her knees, threatening to collapse underneath her, especially when she followed his steps, drawing closer.

Her hand rose and Itachi fought down the flinch, a series of blinks taking place. He, for once, didn't know if he could trust his eyes. Then her fingertips brushed the skin of his cheek, over the slope of his cheekbone, nearly into his hairline as her hot palm settled over his jaw. They didn't speak. They didn't need words.

Her hand was shaking with little bursts of tremors, but it was there, right on his cheek, solid and real. She seemed as dazed as he was, as lost, needing that touch to know he really was in front of her. Water misted the bottom lashes of her large eyes, too stubborn to fall. Then, best of all, she smiled. Wide. Brilliantly. A laugh erupting from her chest.

"I found you."

Itachi's answer was a whisper carried on the hush of wind.

"How?"

Hari's voice had dropped as low and stifled in unspoken emotion as his own had become.

"A dragonfly always finds its way back to its pond... In the end. It just took me a little while longer than planned."

Itachi's lips parted to answer, not really knowing what he was about to say, and as Hari's brows furrowed, head cocking to the side, gaze flickering to just over his right shoulder, Itachi would never know.

One second her hand was on his face, cradling, soft and gentle. The next it had tensed, rigid and she was using it to push him harshly to the side. Something behind him, before he was thrown to the left a few feet, glowed a shocking hot white tinged with blazing blue.

He landed fine, stealthily, sliding just an inch as he twirled and faced Hari. The first thing Itachi noticed was the lightning. Blazing, crackling, a ball of angry energy let loose on the world. The next was what the ball was attached to.

 _Sasuke's hand._

His brother was mid jump, streamlined, hand out. Hari was where Itachi used to be, unguarded, open... Vulnerable. Itachi's heart stopped the exact moment Hari's did when Sasuke's fist burst through her chest, blood spraying and coating the grass... Grass as green and lively as her eyes.

Sasuke landed, face blank before he saw who was in front of him. All stopped. There was no wind. No air. No soil and sky. No moon or sun. Nothing. Itachi didn't blink. Didn't breath. Didn't move. He couldn't.

Hari coughed once, blood spouting, dribbling down her chin. She blinked once. Exhaled once. Stumbled back once. Then she dropped, slipping off of Sasuke's hand like a fish off a hook. She didn't inhale. She didn't move. She didn't blink.

 _She was gone._

Movement came back to Itachi like a dam had broken inside him and he found his knees crashing to the floor beside Hari's body. He picked her head up, tried to stem the blood, but it was fruitless. There was a hole right where her heart should have been, smoke rising out of the wound from the lightning, the smell of charred flesh imprinting its memory on Itachi's mind.

Her eyes had switched to Sharingan before death had frozen them over, however, the sight of them, the pattern, made Itachi's head and shoulders sag. Gone were the normal Tomoe, instead there was an interesting battle of shapes taking place. Her black pupil had been blown wide, dilated, a gaping hole that seemed to suck all light into it. Around the pupil was three triagles, points outwards, so together, they formed a whole triangle that seemed to cloak the pupil. And like a slash, one lone line, from the very tip of the triangle, ran through the pupil and down to the very base of the triangle. It looked like the same symbol he had caught a glimpse of on her wrap-skirt, proudly displayed in her dead eyes. Blank. Mangekyou Sharingan. She had Mangekyou Sharingan. His sister had seen... His Tonbo...

For most of his life, Itachi had envied people who could so easily blank their emotions and mind. Meditation did not come easy for his never-ending thoughts or tumultuous feelings he kept buried deep inside. Here, now, holding Hari's body, a shell, he felt that blankness. The abyss.

 _And it terrified him._

Her body fell back to the floor with a muted thump as he gently lowered her back down, coming to a stand, head slowly turning to face his ashen-faced Ototo. There was blood on Sasuke's hand, dripping in it, all the way up to his elbow. The same blood was splattered across his stunned face... Hari's blood. It. Was. Hari's. Blood.

Itachi saw red.

"What. Have. You. Done?"

* * *

 ** _SNEAK PEAK OF CHAPTER NINE:_**

"What can I say? Death, for me, isn't a permanent state. Lucky, really, all things considered. I mean, one of you tried to choke me out, the other literally rammed his fist through my heart. Not quite the hello I was looking for."

* * *

 **Very important note on the Mangekyou in this fic! :** Hari obviously has Amaterasu, in this fic, as both do Itachi and Sasuke. However... Hari can also perform Susanoo, like Itachi and Sasuke. To do this, normally, a Sharingan user has to awaken Mangekyou in both eyes, and normally, each eye has a different skill. Itachi has Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi, Sasuke has Amaterasu and one lets him shape or extinguish the flames, Hari has Amaterasu and... Spoilers! However, I will say her other Mangekyou has a lot to do with the Deathly Hallows symbol, why I've chosen to have her Mangekyou Sharingan take that pattern and her near constant brushes with death. I will also say one more thing, when news gets around about exactly what it can do (For it will get around, it isn't something you can keep hushed.), Hari's eyes will be very sort after.

 **QUICK NOTE ON THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER:** *Bashful* I may have screwed up on explaining the directions last chapter. Sorry! Itachi was in fact following Hari, not leaving when he was speaking to Kisame. I just accidentally typed in the wrong direction. Sorry for any confusion.

* * *

 **THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!**

 **Thank you to every single person who reviewed last chapter, your kind words really did boost my creativity and muse. Thank you to everyone who followed and favourited, I hope you are enjoying this so far! As always, please drop a REVIEW, they really do get my fingers typing!  
**

 **Until next time, stay beautiful! ~AlwaysEatTheRude21**


	9. United

**Hari's P.O.V**

Hari Potter had been walking for hours. Days... Years? She didn't know. Not here, where time was nothing but a gelatinous mush of inconsequential clock faces. Time had no bearing here.

However, as she carried on walking across the field of red spider lilies, an endless sea of pretty flowers as tall as her hip, she could feel the thick, warm liquid bubbling between her toes and coating the soles of her feet. Her feet were bare and bleeding. Had she been walking for that long?

 _She didn't know._

It was hard to latch onto a thought and hold onto it long enough to make sense of anything. This land was odd... Not wrong, just different. Too peaceful. The grass, which she was sure should have been green was white. Blazing and bleached. The sky was white. The ground was white. White. Pure. Untouched. The only color she could see was the red lilies and her dress. A silken thing, long sleeved and as red as the flowers. A kimono... She thought that was what it was called.

 _She couldn't remember._

She walked more. It could have been a second, a day, another year before she came upon him. The flowers had begun to thin out, shrink, creating a little circular foot hold in the red sea of sweet scents.

He sat there, right in the middle. He too was in a red Kimono. His skin was as pale and pure as the white around them, almost glowing. His hair was long, white again, but pulled up high on his head in a strong bun that left one long lock to flick down and tickle the ground. From a hair pin was dangling a red spider lily.

He sat crossed legged on the bare ground, a Shamisen perched in his lap, his long spindly fingers twisting at the knobs of its elongated neck, tuning the strings. His blank, ice white eyes staring ahead of him. Hari came to a bumbling stop, breath heavy and harsh.

"You..."

Somehow, someway, she knew who this was. His face, it was hard to explain. It was if two beings, the same one, had been shaded on top of one another. One young, bright and burning. His features kissed with the love of youth and excitement. Over that was an old man, all wisdom and patience and a grandfatherly eye of devotion and acceptance. Every time she blinked, he changed from one to the other. Or, she could only really focus on one visage at a time, the combination to extreme for her mind to comprehend fully.

 _Death. She was in the presence of death._

"Hello, child. I see you finally see me for me. Good. You're learning."

His smile was simultaneously provocative and cheerful teasing, as well as kind and reluctant. His eyes never once strayed to her and Hari couldn't make contact with them. Couldn't bring herself too.

"You're... You're blind."

He plucked a lone cord, nodding at the soft C that strummed through the air before switching to another knob and another string.

"Of course I'm blind, silly child. Death does not judge on optical perception. It judges on one's words, one's actions and repercussions. Their soul! Now, come... Sit with an old man and keep him company for a song or two."

He let go of his Shamisen to absently pat the ground right beside him and Hari found her feet moving to the patch of offered respite. As soon as her legs had crossed and she had settled enough, He reached to his side and handed her another Shamisen. Like a mirror, Hari found herself replicating his movements, like a flowing river, ebbing and coming, balancing the Shamisen onto her own lap, fiddling with the tuning dials and resting the Bachi on her knee.

She couldn't think, and yet, still, she found her speech and tongue needed no thought.

"You pretended to be a Uchiha last time, didn't you? The one that watched me as I ran to my parents."

Hari couldn't decide whether that was a smile playing at the corner of his lips, or a grimace. She opted to believe it was the former.

"I did not pretend. It was the way your mind and being chose to perceive me. Unable at the time to truly grasp who and what was in its presence. But here you are, looking right at me. Your eyes are finally opening up. I must say. it's about time."

Hari didn't know what to say, but found herself nodding as if it was the most normal and expected response one could get. Why was she here again? How long had she been sitting for? What was she... There was something she was meant to be doing, but she couldn't remember.

"Chin up, child. It'll get easier in time. You'll feel less disorientated with every visit. Now, here, pick up the Shamisen, hold the middle string at the third bump... Over an inch, right there, and strum with me for a turn or two."

Hari plucked up the Bachi and strummed along to the small rhythm he had set up. In the silence of this world, it sounded like a heartbeat... Heartbeat! She... She was dead... Again. She remembered... Itachi, she had found him and then there was a flash, pain indescribable... Sasuke and then... Death. Sasuke had ripped through her heart... She missed a beat and this time, the small smile he sent her, she could tell it was full of pity. He changed the tune to a faster beat and Hari mimicked once more.

"I... I won't be able to go back. I... I don't have the deathly Hallows anymore. I don't own them... I'm dead. Dead, dead. Really dead. I failed."

Death changed to the bottom string, switching between the middle and bottom with every three beats. Hari matched him perfectly.

"Ah. The trinkets I gave the wand-wavers? Yes, I remember those. Do they still believe they were the only ones to receive my gifts?"

He shook his head ruefully, the ponytail lashing behind his back like a stallion's tail.

"Foolish bunch if you ask me. I gave all children the option to become equal to me... To finally see! And yet, they're all more blind than I have ever been. The grail... Ambrosia... The fountain of youth... Golden apples... The Deathly Hallows... The Mangekyou you currently poses."

Hari slipped in tune once more before quickly righting her clenching fingers, frown heavy on her face.

"Yes, you heard me. The deathly hallows were never a dirty rag, a polished pebble or a stick. The Deathly Hallows was always you, Hari. Your vibrant soul... And your eyes. All the power you need is right there, inside you."

The tune changed once more, this one heavy and oppressive, fast. Hari had difficulty keeping up as she stared at the field of flowers in front of them. The red kissing the white really was quite pretty...

"Why... Why bother leaving all this, testing people to become your equal?"

Death's head turned towards her, just a fraction, but it was enough to unsettle even the bravest of men.

"I am not above my own needs child. What does every being crave?"

The song changed again at the flip of a coin, becoming light and airy, something you'd tap your foot along too. Hari's answer was just as swift as the changing song.

"To be understood."

Death smiled widely as he faced the front once more, teeth just as white as everything else about him, but his gums were black. His tongue too, Hari would hazard a guess.

"Yes. To be understood. Mortals loath me. I do not blame them. If I was in their shoes, I believe I would hate me too. I take away their loved ones. I snatch their children, husbands, wives, brothers and sisters from their grasp. I slay mothers and fathers alike. Nothing makes me discriminate. In the end, everything comes to me. This, even I cannot change. It is the law of our universe. What lives must die so new life can take its place."

Distantly, as if she was watching herself drowning, it all made a sort of foggy sense.

"You're not the problem, you're just the gardener trimming the rose bush... The last song to be sung."

The pace in music slowed once more. Peaceful. Soft.

"See! I knew there was something inside you. I knew you could understand. But understand fully? Well, not yet. But soon. Soon."

From the corner of her eye, she could see him nod slightly. To her, to himself, it was any one's guess.

"And how does one exactly come to understand death?"

Hari lost track of her hands, their movements becoming instinctual, as easy as breathing. Something you just did and not gave thought to.

"As Ironic as it sounds child, to know death, truly and wholly, you have to live it. Again. And again. And again. And again. Yet, for you, it will _never_ stick. Most would see this as a gift from the gods themselves, yet you see it as a curse of the deepest hatred. That is why it is your gift and your gift alone. Your human parents were correct, you know. You have heart and it is that heart that will be the saving grace of your clan. Not your sight. Not the Sharingan. Not life unending. But that big, bright heart. My brother, my twin, life, well, you cannot know either of us without knowing both. Two sides of the same coin, me and him. You should understand that, yes? You have a twin of your own."

Yes, she did. She has Sasuke. Or was it had? She was dead... He had killed her. She wasn't sure how she felt about that. Whether she wanted to laugh uncontrollably or sob into the sleeve of her magnificent dress. Perhaps she didn't need to choose one.

"I'm not a child... And that's what's happening to me, isn't it? I keep dying, yet going back. You... You're trying to make me understand you. Why me?"

Did... Did that mean this death wasn't permanent? That she would go back? Go back to her brothers? She wanted to go back. She needed to. She had only just found them. She couldn't lose them now that she had gotten so close. Seen them with her own eyes. Held Itachi's face in her own palm. However, did they want her back? One had tried to choke her, the other had successfully killed her. Those actions didn't exactly exuberant a warm welcome.

"To me, everyone and everything is but a child. Take no offense from this old man's words. More than understanding child. It's time you see! Truly see what death entails. To see how precious life really is. What it means. If more people understood death, really did, see it for what it is, they would be less quick in giving it out to others and snatching my twins love from them. And why not you, hmmm?"

The breeze around them became stronger, little curling petals being snatched up and carried along on the wind. Hari watched them go, wondering if she wasn't just another petal, caught in a wind stronger than herself, pulling her into a direction she had no say in.

"You were born into a legacy of death. Those you've loved have fallen into my garden. You stand alone, away from the crowd, half broken, lost, haunted, angry and hurt... And yet... Yet here you are! Fighting for life! Dying for others to live! Really, down to its bones and marrow, that is all death is. All I am. Making room for life to bloom, passing along the torch, making sure the cycle of life continues. Even a blind, old man can see just how special you are."

Many people hated death. It was natural in a way. He was right on that. Look at the lengths Tom Riddle had gone to stave him off. But Hari, Hari had come to realize death was just another part of life. The transformative stage. Death was not a thing to hate. It was what it was. Just like many things in her life.

"Old man... I think you're anything but a man."

This earned her a laugh, a noise that sounded both like the clashing of warring thunder clouds and the tinkle of wedding bells.

"Astute. Lady luck never believed in you, but I always did. She owes me for that bet. Now, look into my eyes and see."

In a daze, Hari turned, a little voice in the back of her mind screaming for her not to do it. And yet, like her tongue, like her movements, it seemed uncontrollable. When she looked Death in the eye, it felt like a raging river had flown through his, into hers and ravaged her mind. The scenes changing with each pluck of a cord.

She wasn't in the field anymore. She was in a village, screams ringing out. Everyone was running. People were left dead in the street. Forgotten. A... Beast, a fox, gigantic and salivating was tearing buildings apart with a single swoop of one of his many tails.

 _Pluck._

There was an office. A man, old and weary, looking out the bay windows. He was talking to a man, shadowed and hidden.

"Do it. Segregate the Uchiha off into the east. We need them in one place if we are to keep a close eye on them. This attack could be the first of many, we can't take any chances."

 _Pluck._

A woman was bending down to a little girl who was crying, trying to shush her. They had the Uchiha symbol emblazoned on their back and the people trying to walk past them shot them equally dirty and suspicious looks.

"Momma, I don't want to move. I want to go home! Why won't Haruka play with me anymore? Does she hate me?"

The woman sighed, blinking hard as she scooped the girl up and into her arms, carrying her away down the street.

"We... We have no choice. Fear not little one, we'll make another home. A better one. You'll see and you'll have more friends, the best of friends."

 _Pluck._

She was in a room, men have gathered around, the lamps were dimmed, Hari's father sat proudly at the head table, the Uchiwa painted upon the stone wall behind him.

"If this is the answer, then we shall proceed. Too long have the Senju dictated where we live, what we do, our own stations in our own clan. We pay our equal taxes, we work the same jobs, we bleed for the same village! And yet the Senju spit on us. Now is the time for change!"

The men cheered.

 _Pluck..._ The images came faster.

Itachi carrying her to the pond. Playing with her. Smiling. He was a happy child. Training. Stress. Fugaku putting too much on too young of shoulders. The planning of a coup. Itachi joining Anbu to spy for their father. Shisui. Friendship. Smiles... Thunder. Change of heart. Change of mind. Shisui's death. Informs Hokage of the coup. Double spy. Stress. Ache. Danzou. Deal. The only way to save Sasuke. Have to. ...The massacre...

 _Traitor._

 _Pluck. Pluck. Pluck. Pluck._

Sasuke talking to her in his room... Or who he imaged her to be. Loneliness. Incomplete. Itachi, fun, and games. Brother. Safe. Adoration. Massacre. Blood. Death. Parents slain before his eyes. No more smiles. No more fun. No more safe. Anger. Betrayal. Hatred. He had to get strong. Top of his class. Always. But it doesn't fill the hole. Nothing does. Not even the hatred. It only makes it stronger, bigger, more gaping.

Then Naruto. Kakashi. Sakura. For a moment, the belief he could get by. He wasn't so alone. It wasn't family. It didn't fill the hole. But it bandaged the seeping wound. Still needed to get stronger. Needed to Avenge. Snakes... Orochimaru. Poisoned whispers feeding the hatred. Stoking the anger. Leaving Sakura on the bench. Walking away from friendship and love for power from a mad-man who eventually wanted to take over his body. Slashing his headband.

 _Traitor._

 _Pluck._

Hari snapped out of it, head sagging, neck unable to hold her head high, hands digging into the Shemasen until she was sure it would break clean in half. Loud, ugly sobs were wracking her form. An earthquake in her body. She couldn't stop it. The devastating noise leaving her chest, rubbing her throat bloody and sore.

What had they done? What had they become? The Uchiha compound... When she last died... The reason it was so full... Her parents... Itachi's own hand... No. No, it couldn't be.

"What was that? Itachi he-... The Uchiha-... A coup-... Sasuke turned his back and-... No. No! They're my brothers... My blood... They wouldn't... Please... No... No... Tell me it wasn't real, please... Please... I'm begging... Please... No"

"It is what it is."

Hari's head snapped up, her long hair curtaining off her face, one eye peeking through. Red rimmed and crimson iris. The song in the air turned violent, rageful.

"It is what it is?! Those are my brothers! That is my... Was my clan! Is... They... You're death, aren't you? Well, reverse it! Change it! Bring them back and Sasuke would have never joined Orochimaru and Itachi won't have to-"

Death's hand latched gently onto her chin, his touch felt both like it gave her frost bite as well as char her sensitive skin. He pulled her chin up, used his other hand to brush her hair out of her face and Hari's eyes shimmered back to green.

"Dear, sweet child. Everyone is already dead to me. Their deaths innumerous. Bloody, painful, peaceful, disease, accidental, cold blooded murder. All of it, simultaneously. Even your dear brothers. Dead. Gone. Once a name is called, it cannot be uncalled. Not when they've been gone for as long as the Uchiha clan have... Not by me. Now... How the ones to come are to die, when they'll die, that is something you can change. So, even knowing the truth, what will it be? With hate in their hearts, or with the peaceful sigh of a life well lived? Destruction or redemption?"

Hari tore her chin from his grasp and faced forward. Death didn't seem to mind, not when he picked up his instrument again.

She bit back the retort of destruction. Bit so hard she could taste copper. It was what they deserved, wasn't it? Misaki's grandson... That base. Sasuke had a hand in that. He might not have done the experiments himself, but he rounded the men, women... Oh god, the children up.

Itachi, even if in his own mind it had secured more peace and less death than a full out coup would have wrought, had killed their parents. Destroyed the Uchiha clan with the help of an orange masked man.

And yet the song in the air changed. Melancholy. So very, very sad. Tragic. Notes humming like tear drops and restless nights. Of loss and pain untold. Yet, held an undercurrent of strength and resolve that seemed unbreakable.

Could she really damn her brothers? Why did she hold her tongue from an angry, quick decision if she could? There was good in them. She knew that. She had seen it with her own eyes! If they were truly gone, why did she remember Itachi's smile so clearly? Why did she feel Sasuke's presence so strongly? Those children she remembered, could still feel, they lived in their grown up counterparts. They had to. They did. Buried, but there... Hari would just have to dig them out of their own dark, spiral downwards.

Her parents had told her she had the heart, had they not? That was what they had been hinting at. They wanted her to try and lead them back into the light, away from the shadows trying to devour them whole. Then she would use it. Redemption wouldn't make up for the atrocities they had already done, but it would make a better future. A better future for them. A better future for her. A better future for all of them. All of them as one or none at all. Hari had to believe that. She couldn't turn her back on them. Not when it seemed they needed her most now... Even if it was just to knock some bloody sense into their hard heads.

Together, they could make it.

"Do you even have to ask?"

She couldn't bring herself to look at him, but she felt the soft hand on her back and she got the odd feeling he was pleased with her decision.

"No. No I don't... What a lovely song."

"It is rather beautiful. Sad too... Really sad. I suppose you've had a lot of time to learn."

Her mind was a whirl. Jumbled. Anger still hot and alive in her veins, despite her conviction to bring Itachi and Sasuke back to the light. Just because she chose redemption, didn't mean she couldn't kick their fucking arses along the way.

"It is not me who is playing. It never has been."

Harry looked down and saw it was her playing the beautiful song, Death's own hands laying limply on his bent knees.

"Remember dear Hari, it is your life, your eyes... Your song. No one else. You pluck the notes. You hum the tune. You sing the words. Yours... Not theirs. Now come here."

Once again hazy, Hari leaned in. Death did too, so close she could feel his breath flutter across her face. It was frigid and smelled sickly sweet.

"Sing loud, bright, clear and make an old man proud."

He then kissed her forehead, a quick brush of lip against skin, a small familiar sign of affection. However, as soon as his lips departed, she exploded into a flurry of red spider lily petals. Death smiled, billowing out a breath that could rival a hurricane, blowing the petals away. Laughing, he turned back to his Shamisen, playing an age old tale.

"A truly beautiful song indeed!"

* * *

 **Sasuke's P.O.V**

"What. Have. You. Done?"

Sasuke Blinked. And blinked. And blinked. He saw her, Hari, it could be no other, not with Sharingan frozen in her eyes, laying there, as still as stone and yet... His mind couldn't really comprehend what he was seeing. However, he felt it. By Kami did he feel it.

The still warm blood on his hand and arm. Trickles on his face, crusting, embedding itself into his skin, scaring him. He could still feel the moment his Chidori had cracked through her rib cage, feel the snap and splinter of bone. He could still feel the last breath she had taken, constricting his arm before she slipped off. Nevertheless, even capable of feeling all this, the end result, Hari dead on the floor, just didn't make... Sense.

Itachi prowled closer, a fist was thrown, clocking Sasuke right on the jaw. He knew it was coming, yet he had just stood there and taken it, pushing himself up from the floor when he stilled, eyes still locked on his... On his... Hari, his twin. His dead twin. He had done that.

 _No._

This was Itachi's fault. He had planned for this. He always did. It was another torment he could rub Sasuke's nose in.

"I-... I thought it was you... I didn't see her... It was meant to be you!... It's a trick... Another trick. A lie. A game. She's not here. Stop it. Stop it now!"

The anger came, like an eclipse, swallowing everything in darkness. Sasuke charged, fist drawn back. Itachi caught it, but he could not catch the sharp kick to his side that sent him scattering through the clearing.

"It is not a trick Ototo. She's here. She's alive... Was alive. You killed her."

No. He didn't. He couldn't have. It wasn't him. He wasn't the one to kill family, that fell to Itachi's feet. Sasuke threw shuriken, but his aim was off, the worse it had been since he was eleven. His grip was shaking, he felt unsteady as he glanced at his hand, saw the blood. Saw Hari's blood. Bile rose but his fist clenched, using his forearm to block the blow to his head that Itachi sent.

"No... No, it was you! I thought it was you! You did this!"

Sasuke was used to the monochrome semantics of his brother. The blank face. The empty voice. Confronted with... This stranger, he felt even more unbalanced than before. One with anger blazing in his eyes, his voice thick and heavy, blows hard and heavy and fast. But Itachi's anger, it was nothing compared to the impact his next words had on Sasuke.

"You killed our sister."

He had. He had killed his twin. That was him, not Itachi, him. His fist. His Chidori. He couldn't push the blame this time, couldn't deny it. Kakashi had warned him, gave him a grave prophecy and he had not listened. He had not learned. This was the product of it, that ignorance... Hari, his twin, his other half, dead.

It felt like he had ripped half his own soul out, set it on fire and crammed it back into his aching body still burning hotter than the sun. He didn't know what he was saying anymore, didn't really care in that moment, he only wanted the anger out. He wanted a target. He wanted something, someone else to burn with him. To feel the pain.

"And you killed our clan!"

Mother. Father. Hari. Their faces blurred into a single image of unsurpassable loss in his mind's eye. Gone. And yet, here Itachi stood. A murderer unscathed. Alive. Here Sasuke stood, an empty shell of nothing but vengeance and black hatred, alive. It wasn't right. It wasn't fair. He hadn't meant to hit Hari! Why did she push Itachi out the way? Itachi had been strangling her, he had seen it before he dived in. Why did she not defend herself? Why had he used Chidori?

"Then you are more like me than either of us ever wanted!"

Sasuke violently shook his head, his own hits and kicks becoming increasingly singularly poignant.

"I am nothing like you! You murdered our family in cold blood. This was... It was... I didn't mean to. I didn't have a choice-"

"And neither did I!"

Sasuke's feet braced, his hand drawn back for another punch, but it was never let loose. What did Itachi mean? Of course, he had a choice! He had told Sasuke that himself! He had chosen power over family, over home... Over him. His own brother, left to the wayside to rot when Sasuke had needed him most... Like he had done to Naruto, Kakashi and Sakura.

He and Itachi really were more alike than either wanted to admit, would ever admit.

A groan, loud and more like a snort than a sound of pain, unfroze Sasuke's body. The two brothers glanced over to the culprit. Sakura Haruno was pushing herself up on shaky knees, gaze wide when she saw the two of them, eyes locking on Sasuke.

"Sa- Sasuke-Kun?"

She took a bumbling step forward when the final and last Uchiha finally caught her eyes. Hari's body. She stumbled, righted herself and made a dash for Sasuke.

"You killed her. Sasuke-kun, Itachi killed-"

Sasuke stopped her run towards him with three little words.

"It wasn't him."

It took a moment for the meaning to sink in, for Sakura to wrap her mind around what Sasuke had left unsaid. Itachi, however, seemed to lose interest in Sasuke's ex-team mate rather quickly, drawing himself into the shadows, eyes falling to their sister. Sasuke missed the little flare of Chakra...

A fourth chakra to the three alive individuals in the clearing. He missed the way Itachi frowned, took a step towards Hari, head cocking to the side. He missed the way the Chakra flare grew stronger the closer Itachi got. Sasuke was too angry by Sakura's response.

"I-... It's okay. It's... Sasuke-kun, come home. It'll be okay. Come back with me and Kakashi, we can bury her with-"

He... He had killed his twin. Ripped her heart to shreds and ash. And Sakura was still offering him to go back? It wasn't 'okay'. There was no home and Konoha would have Hari's body over his dead one. He knew what they would do to it, knew someone would harvest her eyes. They wouldn't desecrate her like that. Not while he had a say in it. They wouldn't bury her in a full, cold, graveyard or crypt.

She deserved sunshine. A place near a pond with dancing dragonflies. On a hill somewhere, looking over a peaceful pond. When he used to imagine her, talk to her ghost, her forgotten memory, he had always pictured a pond swarming with dragonflies. Sunshine and cloudless skies. After ki-... After what he had done, it was the least he could give her. Perhaps, in time, he would rest forever next to her and that blissful pond.

 _Maybe then, and only then, he would find home and peace._

"Do. not. I warn you Haruno, do not use Har-... Do not use her in a pathetic bid to get me back. Konoha and its inhabitants are dead to me. Including you."

Now it was Sakura's turn to lose her temper. However, from what he recollected, this was a common occurrence. She reached into her pack, pulled out three Kunai she kept between her fingers. How foolish.

"You're coming home. Back where you belong with me and Naruto. Even if I have to force you."

Sasuke actually laughed. There was a ripple in the air, tension, his own disturbing, distorted laugh, no one knew but it set the hair on the back of their necks on edge.

"You? Force me? You are weak. Pathetic."

And just as he wanted her to, Sakura snapped and charged. Sasuke unclipped his katana, was about to pull it free, when the ripple became a pop. From the corner of his eye, he saw a blur of black and white. Then, again, as everything settled, he was left disorientated and lost.

Sakura was stopped halfway towards him, Kunai pinned, head trapped in a headlock in the curve of a thin, soft arm, between elbow crux, pressing into the person's hip, forcing Sakura to bend in half.

Hari stood proudly, arm tightening as she used the other to snap Sakura's wrist, a gasp of pain joining the clank of Sakura's dropped kunai. The hole in her chest, while her black top still had a singed circle of burnt cloth, the skin on show was unblemished. No hole. No wound. Nothing but untouched skin.

"He isn't going anywhere near Konoha... Or with you."

Hari twirled as she brought her knee up, planting it in Sakura's stomach, sending the Kunoichi sailing through the clearing, through the trees, towards the sound of Kakashi and Kisame still battling.

* * *

 **Hari's P.O.V**

Hari took the time with her back to her brothers to recollect herself. She felt dizzy, jumbled as if she had been violently shaken like a can of pop. But like that can, she felt full of bubbles, energy... Chakra. A good thing really. After all, she needed to knock some sense into her brothers and she doubted simple words would suffice.

Taking her time, she unwrapped her arm, skin healed and clean. Reaching up, she unwrapped the bandages around her forehead. If she was going to face her brothers, it will be as her, all of her, scars included. She was done with hiding. Reaching into the pouch attached to the back of her skirt, holding a few things Kakashi had let her keep as they were deemed 'safe', Hari pulled out a pair of leather gloves, slipping her hands into the tight material.

 _Show time._

"You're dead. I just... I killed you. You took a Chidori to the heart..."

Hari turned around, a smile dancing on the corners of her lips. She would admit, having lightening shoved through her chest had not exactly given her the time to really look at her twin. Who knew it was a little distracting to die.

He looked a lot like her, yet completely different. Like the moon and the sun. Both were round. Both called the sky home, yet, to her soft, pale, silver light, Sasuke was all fire and glory. For the first time in her life, the hole in her soul sealed and closed, as if it had never been there before.

She could feel him. Inside. Feel his shock. Feel his Chakra reaching out for hers, skimming one another, hesitant at first, like two dogs wary of each other, sniffing, testing. Then, as if smelling an old friend, they yapped, danced, licked and jumped, circling one another before settling back down, sleeping, blending into one mass.

"What can I say? Death, for me, isn't a permanent state. Lucky, really, all things considered. I mean, one of you tried to choke me out, the other literally rammed his fist through my heart. Not quite the hello I was looking for."

Hari glanced between the two. She didn't need to feel Itachi to know he was as equally shocked as Sasuke, somehow she just knew.

"Then again, you two seem more like the hit first and ask later type. Now, we're going to have a little chat, us three."

Hari, as much as she wanted to run to them, hug them, just... Be. She couldn't. They didn't have time on their side. Who knows how long the big blue fellow could keep Kakashi at bay, especially now that she had sent Sakura quite literally sailing into his arms to keep busy too. And this conversation? This was private. They didn't need an audiance.

They had things they needed to speak about. Things needed clearing. Somehow, someway, Hari had to get them to see eye to eye, see the truth, get them ready for what was coming.

"Hari... You're really alive... It's really you..."

Sasuke took a step forward, Hari mirrored him, but stopped herself from getting any closer. What she had to say, what she had to tell him, it wasn't going to be pleasant. If anyone was going to blow their lid in this field, it would be Sasuke. As much as she hated to do it, she shut herself off from him a little. She had to. He obviously felt the change in her chakra, as a small frown puckered between his brows.

"Yeah, it's me Sasuke. It's... It's good to finally see you. Itachi... I-"

It was weak, she didn't know what else to say. How to explain what finally seeing them meant. She had never been good with words and she felt anything would fail in comparison to how she actually felt. Hari took a step forward, still speaking when Sasuke cut her off.

"Hari, get away from him! He killed our clan. He'll kill-"

No time for pleasantries then. Perhaps it was a good thing. If she stalled anymore than she already had, she didn't think she could or would want to get down to the nitty gritty. To disturb the feeling of finally coming home after a lifetime adrift at sea.

They would have time later. She would make sure of that. All. Three. Of. Them.

"What? Kill me? Like you? No, he won't. I said we're going to have a little chat and a little chat is what we're going to have. If I so happen to have to beat the words right out your mouths... Well, I'll be knocking teeth free. Are you going to tell him Itachi, or should I?"

Hari locked eyes with Itachi, cocking her head to the side, prowling forward another three steps. She'd do it. She would beat them black and fucking blue if it meant they would finally stop fighting one another. She had not come all this way to watch her brothers rip each other's throats out. With her eyes, Hari dared Itachi to deny it, to lie... He stepped up to the challenge.

"There is nothing to tell. I killed our clan, and I'll kill-"

In a strange happenstance, the three of them began edging to the right, around and around, a tight circle, eyeing one another up. A standoff. Which one would break first?

"But you won't. You won't kill me. You won't kill Sasuke."

Itachi frowned, Sasuke looked like he wanted to argue and Hari's fists clenched.

"You know nothi-"

The circle broke. Hari charged for Itachi, Itachi braced himself and Sasuke drew his Katana with a swish, charging too. Sasuke must have thought she had meant to attack Itachi with him, however, a swift kick back at him, forcing him into a retreat to miss the blow, and away from lobbing Itachi's head off, must have killed that notion in his mind. Still, Hari focused her fury on a stone faced Itachi.

She wasn't buying it. She had seen the way he had first looked at her. Felt the way he had reacted to her hand on his face. And now that she knew what she knew, she refused to let him play the cold, unfeeling killer.

"Tell Sasuke the truth or so help me Merlin, I'll knock it out of you."

She didn't want to fight. Fighting with Itachi, with Sasuke, it was the last thing she wanted. But if brute force was the only way to get this done, she would do it. She had to. They had spent too long playing this game. Letting others goad them. Lead them on. And what had they both gained from their decisions? Loneliness and blood on their hands.

"You don't know what-"

She didn't want to do it. Really, it was her last option. However, it was the only way to get Itachi to see, to finally open up, to finally speak the truth. He had spent too long lying, perhaps he didn't know how the truth tasted anymore.

But he needed to. For Sasuke, for her, for himself, if they were to survive, if they were to grow, to move one, as one, it all started here, with the truth. You couldn't build a foundation on lies and deceit.

So she used it. She used Itachi's worst memory against him. She felt wrong. Unclean to do so. She couldn't imagine if someone, brother or not, used Sirius against her. Swallowing the lump down in her throat, she spoke those words Shisui had told him before his death.

"You, my best friend, are the only one I can count on. Protect this village... And the Uchiha name."

Crack. His mask finally broke and splintered, and for him, Hari's own heart ached for the pain he obviously felt at the reminder.

"How did-... How did you know-.."

She became animated, hands in constant motion. There was so much to say, so much to explain and yet again, words failed her.

"Because I saw it Itachi! I saw Shisui. I saw the massacre. I saw the Anbu! I saw the Kyuubi, the coup, Danzou! The pain, the loss, the death, the lies and sick, twisted smiles! The threats and battles! I saw... Everything... Everything!"

Hari swiveled a little, so she could see both Itachi and Sasuke, both still standing at odds with one another. Not for long, not if she could show them.

"I see where you two are headed and like hell will I let you destroy one another over vengeance or some selfish need to die by a brothers hand. How can you put that on him 'Achi? How can you lay that burden on his feet when you know perfectly well eventually he'll find out the truth and it will kill him knowing what he had done?"

Hari jabbed a finger at Sasuke, eyes on fire and tongue like acid sparking off a live battery.

"And you! How can you be so blind? How many chances has Itachi had to kill you? How many has he taken? None! Why, if he killed the whole fucking clan for power, has he been telling you to get stronger? Knowing full well you want to kill him? Did you think for a single fucking moment he was trying to get you out of Konoha, out of danger, and strong enough to protect yourself?"

Unlike Itachi, Sasuke met her fire with fire. Stepping forward, close enough she could headbutt him if she wanted to.

"He killed our clan! Ran our parents through with a sword right in front of my eyes and-"

The reminder of exactly what Itachi had done, despite his reasons, hurt. It hurt like hell. Worse than death and Hari, well, having lived through death more than once, thought she could make the comparison. Shakily, she rose her hand and laid in on Sasuke's shoulder.

She felt him tense slightly before he settled into the touch. Idly, she wondered how long it had been since someone had touched him without it being an attack. Without it leaving a bruise or scar. She knew that feeling well, the fear of touch. Itachi likely knew it too. No more. No more fear for any of them. Her hand gently squeezed.

"I know... I know Sasuke. And he will pay for it. But not with death. Never with death. We're the only ones left. We shouldn't turn on one another! Not when the real enemy is out there, waiting for us to slip!"

Sasuke shook her hand off, face twisting into a cold snarl.

"Real enemy? Who is the real enemy if not the one who decimated our family?"

They were like the tide, the two of them. Sasuke ebbed, Hari flowed. Meeting step for step.

"The men and heads that orchestrated their deaths and are currently planning to steal our fucking eyes! To wipe the Uchiha name from the very records! Don't you see Sasuke? The Uchiha were destined to die. It might be a bitter fucking pill to swallow, but swallow it you bloody will! It's done. It's already been written in fucking stone! Konoha has been treating us like cattle for too long... 'Achi, please, just tell him the truth. While we still can come back from... From this."

The silence was heavy, it dragged and seemed never ending. Hari looked Itachi in the eye, she pleaded, she begged, she prayed. Just when she thought he was going to keep tight lipped, he spoke.

"The Uchiha planned a coup on Konoha-..."

Sasuke growled, animalistic, hurt, injured as he pushed himself away from both Itachi and Hari, violently gesturing to Itachi.

"No! He killed them for power! He slit our mother and father in half! He-"

Hari took a step forward and when Sasuke backed away from her, the action hurt a lot more than she thought it would. Cramming down her own pain, she could deal with that herself later, Hari brokenly smile. How did they come to this?

"Listen Sasuke. Just listen to him. I promise, if you still don't believe, you can leave. I won't stop you. Itachi won't stop you."

Sasuke acted like a cornered wolf, eyeing them both up before stalling on Hari, words clipped and frigid.

"And you'll leave with me. I won't leave you here in his hands."

She wouldn't leave Itachi behind just like she wouldn't leave Sasuke behind for Itachi. But, if that was what it took for Sasuke to actually listen, she would. After all, after he knew the truth, surely he would see how important it was they stayed united?

"If, after you've heard the truth and still want to leave, I'll leave with you."

After Sasuke's reluctant nod, Itachi spoke.

"The Uchiha were planning a coup. After the attack on the nine-tails, suspicion was cast upon the clan. Konoha restricted us to a quarter. Watched our every move. Segregated us. Refused jobs on our last name. The clan grew angry. So, they planned rebellion. Father, as clan head, placed Uchiha spies amongst the higher ranking officials. I was placed amongst the Anbu. Shisui... He didn't believe in the coup. Neither did I. Not back then. He died trying to stop it. If the Uchiha began a war, thousands would die. Senju, Uchiha, Hyuuga, civilian alike, all our blood would have spilled in the streets and painted Konoha red. It would have brought back the warring clan era. A... A man, the leader of Anbu and head of a division called Root came to me one day. He said if I-... He told me-..."

Hari stepped in.

"Danzou... He stepped in, told Itachi if he stopped the coup before it happened, he... You could live, Sasuke. The only way to stop the coup at this point was to... Was to..."

Now it was Sasuke's turn to fill in the blanks neither Hari or Itachi could.

"Massacre the clan. Konoha was going to kill the clan either way, but with you... You massacred the clan... To save me."

Silence reigned supreme again. This time, neither of the siblings were strong enough to break it... Until Sasuke's broken voice pilfered the air, Itachi's own groggy voice overlapping his.

"Mother and father-..."

"They knew. They... Welcomed it if it meant your survival. They knew the risks. After... After Hari's disappearance and supposed death, they couldn't stomach the thought of losing another child."

Sasuke, when confronted with pain on an emotional level, seemed to fall back on one trusty emotion. A safety net. Anger.

"You still turned your back on the clan and sided with Konoha-"

No, Hari wouldn't let him deflect. Couldn't. Too much rested on the three of them walking out on this clearing together. And still, she had her own bones to pick with him. One of the most pressing ones being the horrors she had seen in that base... A base Sasuke had helped fill.

"Really Sasuke? You're going to try and take the high ground? Tell me how many families have you divided? How many brothers have you turned on their own family? How many grandsons, sons, daughters have you taken away? How many villages have you handed over to the hands of a mad man!? Because I know all about your little quest for power too! Tell me Sasuke! Do you even know the fucking number?!"

Sasuke swung and Hari ducked, swinging back as he dodged and as they argued, letting their frustration of the world out, not able to keep it pent up any longer, they danced in a hail of fists and kicks.

"And what about you? Where have you been, Hari? If you found us now, why not years back? Hmmm? Or did you have a pretty little life with the U~Izaido? That was the rumor wasn't it? Abduction by a mythical race? Thought you would pay a visit? Cash in on the clan's name and-"

And like Itachi's and Sasuke's similarities, both Sasuke and Hari suffered the same. They both had an uncanny knack for hitting people exactly where it hurt with their words. Hari finally managed to clock him in the neck with her elbow, snapping at him with keen words and sharper teeth.

"Don't you fucking dare Sasuke!"

He retaliated with a heeled kick to the back of her knee, sending her to them on the ground... Where she proceeded to punch him in the stomach.

"Am I hitting too close to home? What? Upset that the clans dead so you have no funds to slither in and take-"

Before she could bite him or Sasuke could headbutt her, Itachi's arms cradled around her body, yanking her away from Sasuke and their tussle.

"I bled to get to you and Itachi! I fought, cried and died to be here! You want to see, huh? You want to know? Legillimens!"

With her Sharingan activated, the spell mixed with her eyes, melting the two together. One moment they were in the field, the next they were in her memories, living her life in her shoes.

Itachi picking her up, dancing, laughing, dragonflies. Falling asleep next to Sasuke in their crib, hands in each others hair, forehead against forehead. Safety. An old man carrying her away from home, the feeling of a hole in her chest, another babies cry behind her... Sasuke's cry. A flash of putrid green, a woman's dying scream. Lily Potter's death.

A cupboard. Vernon. Petunia. Dudley. Beatings. Starvation. Weird. Wrong. Unnatural. Locked in. Stealing food from the bin. Zoo trip. The snake talking. Dudley falling in. The laughter that stopped when another beating came.

Muggle school. In the corner. Alone. Away from the crowd. Hari hunting. Playing dumb. Hogwarts acceptance letter. Diagon alley. Boat ride. Wonder. Hogwarts castle. Maybe found home. Still, hole never goes away. Everyone knowing her name. Malfoy. Hermione. Ron. Gryffindor! Troll. Flying keys. Three headed dog. Chess. A man with a face in the back of his head. Burning scar. Philosophers stone.

Summer. No letters. Forgotten. Dobby hopping on the bed. Shhh. Ironed hands. Fred, George and Ron freeing her. Stolen flying car. Gilderoy Lockheart. Lucius slipping a book into Ginny's basket. Near expulsion. Whomping willow. Strange voice whispering. Follow the spiders. Chamber of secrets. Tom Riddle. Friend. Understanding... Lie. All of it had been a lie. A game. No understanding. Ginny nearly dying. Lord Voldemort. Killer. Evil. Hatred incarnate.

Saving Sirius. Family! Wonder! Not alone! Buckbeak. Hagrid. Time turners. Snape.

Sirius dying. Reaching, reaching, reaching! Not close enough. Never close enough. Dead. Gone. Alone once more. Deatheaters. Voldemort. Anger. Hatred. Eyes on fire. Ministry on fire. Black flames.

Dumbledore. Hospital bed. Prophecy. Anger. Betrayel. Want to run. Leave now. Sirius died for them... Can't betray his memory. Staying. Photo of family. Father, mother, Sasuke and Itachi. Holding it close, always by heart. Oath. Find them. Find family.

Dobby's death... Using Genjutsu to ease him. Doesn't ease Hari as he stops breathing in her arms. Horcrux hunt. Pain. Insidious locket. Eating at her soul. Only thing keeping her balanced is the photo of her family. Always looking. Keeping it safe. One day... One day.

Final battle. Death. Everywhere. Too young... Too young! Can't save them all. Her fault. Not strong enough. Not fast enough. Learning the truth. She was born to die. No Itachi. No Sasuke. No parents. Broken Oath. Anger then... Acceptance. Lonely, peaceful walk to the forbidden forest. Need strength. Scared. Ressurection stone. Lily. Remus. Sirius. James... Mikoto, Fugaku, but she can't see them, didn't see them at the time. 'Does it hurt?''Feels like falling asleep.""Stay with me. Please."

Green flash. Death. Anbu outfit. Walking. Peace... Mother... Father. Running. Hugging. Crying. Blind man watching. "Itachi has the skill. Sasuke has the will. You little Tonbo... You have the heart. You can't live without a heart. They need you." New oath. New purpous. Ressurection.

Voldemort. Last stand. Sasunoo. Voldemort's ashes on the wind. Packing up, leaving, saying goodbye to Hermione and Ron. Hate goodbyes. Too final.

Elemental nations. Strange. Unique. Home! Running. Searching. Village. No one speaking. Where are all the Uchiha? Misaki. Hero complex. Base. Horror's. Pain. Darkness. Voldemort all over again. Flashbacks. Haunted. Misaki's grandson. Hearing the name Sasuke. No. Refusal. Sasuke couldn't be involved in this. Fight. Axe. Pain. Arm fucked. Dodging. Get out. Base crumpled. Healing. Leading survivors to Konoha boarder. Teary goodbye, but not goodbye. Never say goodbye. 'If you need us, ever need us, a place to stay, hide or a friendly ear or arms to help you, you know where we are. Don't be a stranger.'

Heading north. Find brothers. Oto-nin. Rats. Anbu, danger. Run faster. Kakashi, Sakura and Neji. Reinforcements coming in from Konoha. Captured. Fuck. Trying to escape. Still injured.

Finding out it was Itachi following them. New resolve. Escape. Acceptance. She's a Uchiha. Don't break. Don't bend. Healing. "I am Hari Uchiha. This is my home. They are my family and you can't stop me!"

Seeing Itachi. Home. Made it... Getting strangled. Forgotten once more. Flick his nose. Hold him. Touch him. He's real. She did it. She made it back. Flash, Sasuke's face through lightening. Can't let him hurt Itachi. Push. Pain. Explosion. Blackness.

Walking through the red spider lily field. Death himself. Playing the Shamisen with him. Seeing again all he had to show her. Fall of clan. Uchiha gone. Itachi. Sasuke. Anger at what they had become... But guilt too. Wasn't fast enough. Didn't come soon enough. Right the wrong. Redemption. Save them and save herself. As one or not at all. Love. Love above all else. Rebirth.

They snapped out of the memories and crumpled to the floor like sacks of sand. Itachi dropped her, hands reaching out to catch himself. Hari stumbled, crying from the pain in her head and heart from the memories. Sasuke dropped his Katana, falling to his knees from the pressure of having seventeen years worth of memories flood by his mind and eyes in a matter of seconds. Their breath, while heavy and hot, synchronised as one.

Hari was the first up, whether that be her lessons with Snape coming into play, or having already lived through the memories, they didn't quite affect her as much. She hadn't meant to... She didn't want to show them all... It was meant to just be her finding out about them... Her anger had gotten the best of her and once she had opened up the flood gates of her mind, everything had just burst forward.

She couldn't look them in the eye, she couldn't look at them full stop as she spoke. Shame and hurt gnawing at her stomach. What would they think of her now? Would they think her weak, letting so many of her loved ones die? Unworthy for contemplating running like she had when the war grew tough? A coward for being scared of dying? She didn't want to know.

"I have taken my blows. I have fought another's war for their betterment. I have loved and I have lost. I... I can't die. I... I will never be able to cross onto the other side permanently. I will never be able to join our family, my friends, my loved ones in a land of peace. Forever on the outside looking in. Do you know what that feels like? What that really means?"

Her voice cracked and she hazard a look in their general direction.

"And when it's your time, when It's Itachi's... I don't know if I can follow you either... I will have to sit by and watch. Watch as the only family I have left is taken from me once more... But I can damn well make sure you don't die before a life well lived. A life of happiness and laughter. A life of not brother against brother, but a life of a family. United. As one."

She was crying again. It seemed that's all she did lately. Cry. She was weak. Pathetic. Her brothers would soon see it... If they already hadn't. Would they turn their backs on her? They were Shinobi, she was just a little girl who died a few times. No. Together. Or not at all.

"Because I refuse to believe these... broken things is all the three of us can be. Will be! So... We're all going to leave this clearing, together. Or none of us will. Because I will not watch as you two turn into the monsters you originally fought so hard against. Monsters I gave my life up trying to defeat."

Itachi was the second up, though he refused to look at her, his back her only view. Hari grimaced as she saw his hand come up and wipe at his face. She had been right. He was disgusted with her.

"The Akatsuki have plans. Plans they will hunt me down for to keep quiet."

Sasuke was the last up, keeping his head low, unseen. So. Him too. Hari swallowed down the stone lodged in her throat. Hate her they can. But she would still fight for them. Fight for the future. Hari didn't, couldn't, turn her back on people she cared about.

"Orochimaru will not let his vessel go easily."

Hari scoffed.

"And Konoha will never stop trying to get us back there. Danzou won't stop in his quest. The real question isn't who will come for us. It's do we mean more than Akatsuki's plans? Are we bigger than Orochimaru? Is the hope of a united Uchiha worth the stacked odds against us?"

Hari violently wiped at her face, wrecking all trace of tears. Although, she could not change how red her eyes had become. Still, she put on a brave front.

"I believe so. I will always believe so. Please... Please tell me you feel the same. I... I just want to go home. I want my brothers. I don't want to be alone anymore."

Hari's eyes closed as she let the truth of it slip through her chapped lips. Then she felt it, a barest touch that pressed into solidarity. Cracking her eye open, she saw Sasuke's eyes... Red-rimmed like hers. He... He had been crying. His forehead was pressed against hers, his hand in her hair like when they were children sleeping. A half sob, half chuckle broke out of her chest as she pushed her forehead against his more, raising her own hand to tug on a lock by his ear.

"You're not alone. Not anymore. Never again. I'm here. I've always been here and always will be."

Hari nodded, her head bumping into his. She couldn't speak. Words always failed her. But she could feel him and he could feel her. They needed no words. Hari was pulled away by a hand on her shoulder, arms wrapping around her as she was pressed into a warm chest, a hand coming up to hold the back of her head. Itachi.

"As am I."

Hari glanced up at him, saw he had not been rubbing his tired face, but getting rid of the tears like she and Sasuke had. Hari wrapped her own arms around him and squeezed. Home.

 _This is what coming home felt like._

"Good. Because we have a lot of enemies... And seventy-five percent of them are people I've managed to piss off in the half a month I've been here. I don't think they appreciate my form of sparkling wit."

* * *

 **Itachi's P.O.V**

"Is that what you call trying to bite my nose off?"

Hari pulled away from Itachi to swat at Sasuke, the gloomy tension having broke.

"No, that's called trying to get some sense into your thick skull Sasuke."

Of course, Sasuke retaliated with his own playful hit as the two began to goad one another. As if they had never been separated. Never grew up apart, as if they already knew each other inside and out. Itachi watched with a fond smile ghosting along his lips. Perhaps they never had been. Not fully.

Having known what Sasuke had gone through, having seen what Hari had lived in... Their lives had been eerily similar. Immortality. Revenge. War. Snake obsessed men in pursuit to take over their bodies.

He didn't want to break the two apart, ruin the small bubble they had wrapped themselves in, the first smile Itachi had seen on Sasuke's face for years slightly pulling at the corners of his mouth, not fully there, but growing, but he had to. The sound of Kisame's fight with Kakashi was getting closer and closer, meaning Kakashi and Sakura were managing to push him back.

"We should leave before Haruno and Kakashi-san breaks through Kisame's barrier."

With a final shove at each other, the two broke apart, Sasuke's game face slipped tightly on as he plucked up his Katana and slid it home, though, it was Hari who spoke up.

"Is big and blue coming with us?"

Itachi had the very disheartening, very sudden, wary belief that Hari and Kisame would get on like a house on fire. He reluctantly answered.

"He'll follow once he's successfully led Kakashi-san off our trails. What about you Ototo? Any Oto-members we need to outmaneuver or run?"

Sasuke tightened his belt, casting Itachi a slanted gaze. He still didn't a hundred percent trust Itachi. Itachi, himself, couldn't blame his Ototo. Sasuke had spent most his life with one goal. Itachi's death. It would take more than this to get over that instinct and drive that had been beaten into him. Yet, giving Itachi hope they would eventually get there, he answered truthfully. At which, Hari sent him a beaming smile.

"They are two villages back. I wanted to do this alone. They'll follow eventually, but I'm sure I can get them to see things my way."

Itachi didn't doubt that. Nodding, he headed towards the treeline. Thoughts whirling. Instinctually, Itachi and Sasuke came up on Hari's left and right, respectively, barricading her in.

"First we find a place to rest and gather strength. Somewhere out of the way that won't be easily found. Then... Then you start some real training Tonbo. Not from some old book you found in a... Dubious shop. It's a wonder you survived this long."

And it was. A book. A biased book. That was all the teaching his sister had on being a Shinobi. No sensei. No training. A few colored in pages. It wouldn't do. Itachi couldn't allow it. She was vulnerable and while death seemed to not be able to hold her long, Itachi didn't want to risk it. He didn't want to watch her die again. No. So, she would train, properly.

Yes, she had gotten this far. Escaped Kakashi and Anbu. Destroyed an Oto-base. But she had still taken injury upon herself while doing so. Which begs the question, when fully trained, what would she be capable of?

While thinking of training, Itachi cut a quick glance to Sasuke who was looking resolutely ahead, gaze every so often flickering to Hari. Itachi had not missed the way his eyes had bled slightly after Hari's death. Which meant only one thing. Mangekyou. He would need help mastering that aswell.

Lost in his mind, he nearly missed how Hari stumbled and nearly fell. Nearly. His hand snapped out and grasped her arm, steadying her.

"I'm fine. Just... Give me a moment-"

Itachi cut her off.

"No. You are low on Chakra. That Jutsu you did nearly drained you. Ressurection couldn't have been easy on your system either. It is catching up to you."

"I'm fine 'Achi-"

Her words were sloppy, her voice groggy. This time, her leg giving out cut herself off from her excuses. Itachi smiled, bent down slightly and helped her onto his back. Or, more like fought her onto his back until she gave in from exhaustion. Turning to Sasuke, he nodded.

"Follow me. I know a place to lay low and heal for a few days."

Sasuke glanced at Hari, who had passed out, before nodding. And as together, as one, the three left the clearing.

 _United._

* * *

 **AND NOW THE REAL JOURNEY BEGINS!**

 **Boom! To be honest, this was the hardest chapter to write to date. I've been very... Twitchy with this chapter. One moment, I've wanted to delete it all and start all over again, hating everything about it right down to the characterization to the grammer. the next I'm really proud of it and pumped, thinking I've hit the nail on the head. XD. Looks like the latter won over the former!**

* * *

 **NEXT CHAPTER:** Hari, Sasuke and Itachi get closer. The foundations for a new village are laid down. Konoha learns of a united Uchiha front. And a 'Holy man' is on a quest from his 'god'...;)

* * *

 **THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH.** Every one of you are little gems. Sitting down after a long day, hearing how much you guys enjoy this, really does make my day. I read every single review, and they all make me smile. If I could hug you all, I would. Alas, I can't, so my gratitude will have to make do.

Thank you to all those who reviewed, favourite'd and followed. I hope the cliff hanger last chapter wasn't too bad and the quick update with this one makes up for it! What can I say, I like leaving things at a certain point where it will leave people wondering what the hell will happen next. XD I would say there's no more to come... But there is. Boy, there is. XD

If you have a spare moment, please drop a few words into the little box down there. They keep the muse from whining. Until next time! Stay Beautiful! ~ _AlwaysEatTheRude21_


	10. A New Dawn

**Sasuke's P.O.V**

The smell of honeyed milk, summer rain and jasmine evaporated from his senses, leaving nothing but the odour of moss, dusty stone and damp earth to assault his nose. Sasuke's eyes snapped open at the loss, his hand automatically going to grab at the body that was beside him. Yet, his hand touched stone slab and nothing more. _Gone._ He sat up so fast the world tilted on its axis for a split moment, his legs unsteady underneath his sudden weight when he scrambled to a stand.

The campfire was out, nothing but cindering ash in the pit, casting the cavernous room of the decaying Uchiha hideout in looming shadows. Still, his eyes searched and for one lurid moment, he thought he had dreamt it all. The fight, Itachi, his twin, nothing but a dream-scape's torturing. He, unfortunately, was no stranger to nightmares, nor dreams so pure and real that when you awoke, the real world became the dreaded torment. Then he saw it. A silhouette standing in the open doorway to the outside world, new born sunlight bathing them in warm yellows and soft oranges. Tall, lithe, barefoot and long hair down and blowing in the light breeze. He was standing behind Hari before he even knew he had moved at all.

"I thought-"

Thought she was gone? She had never been here? Or perhaps she and Itachi had left, casting him to the same decay the very building they inhabited was rotting from? Perhaps it was all, either way, he could not bring himself to say any of it. Oh, he felt the words, so many, too many, right there, bubbling at the very top of his throat, and yet his tongue and lips were nothing but dead flesh, refusing to move or part. However, Hari picked up the slack, head turning to gaze over her shoulder as she heard his voice, though no doubt she had felt his presence slither in. She smiled then. It was crooked, dimpled, too toothy and a bit too large for her face and yet, Sasuke couldn't picture another smile as bright.

"I just needed some fresh air. My mind feels a little foggy."

His eyes traveled to the scar splitting down her forehead, highlighted by the morning sun, and he had never felt the burn of his own curse mark as deeply as he did then. They'd taken different paths, traveled different roads, who knew they would eventually end up on the same one? Worlds and oceans apart and yet so similar, reflections really, that their lives had played the same tragedies upon them both. Nonetheless, Sasuke had been gifted his, asked for his, Harri had hers inflicted upon her. What must she see when she looked at him? A demented version of a what-if her?

"We can rest here for a while. This hideout was abandoned decades ago, it will be some time before any think of searching this place for us."

In truth, it had been Itachi who had led them to this collapsing building in the dead of the night. It was the only sure spot where they would not be discovered for a while, it's location long forgotten along with the death of their clansmen. Even Sasuke had not known of its existence, a bitter corrosive feeling came when the knowledge hit that a part of his own clan was right under his nose in Otogakure this entire time and he had not known.

"Rest… Rest sounds nice."

Hari turned away from him to face back outside, and Sasuke took the final step to stand beside her. The back of his hand brushed hers, knuckles skimming knuckles, and tentatively, he wrangled his fingers through her own thin ones, threading them together as he came to hold her hand. He couldn't remember the last hand he had held, couldn't remember the last time he had initiated any sort of physical contact that did not end in violence. As if sensing his thoughts, he felt Hari's fingers tighten around his own hand, returning the hold in equal measure. Too much to say, not enough words to express, not enough air in his lungs. Yet, Hari surmised all those missing years, all the pain, all the questions and horrors into three simple words. Tight, locked, clicking and chocking with held back emotion.

"I missed you."

He remembered those young years, filled with innocence and delightful ignorance, pretending she was beside him, rattling about his day as if she could hear him. He remembered glancing over his shoulder, about to speak, only to find emptiness. Back then, he had so much to say and no chance to do so. Now he had all the chance and yet could not land on any one word. Feverishly, he remembered Hari's own memories. Her whispered stories while locked in her cupboard. Her glancing over her own shoulder, mouth parting, then clamping shut and he realised, she had fell into the same trap he had. He found his voice.

"I missed you too."

She nodded, hair ruffling, though her fingers never slacked. Instead, he found his own and hers tightening. After all, actions spoke louder than words. He didn't know how long they stood there, stagnant in the doorway, breathing in the breeze and the feel of warmth radiating off each other, warmth that really existed and was not a conjuring from their young minds. For once, if he turned to speak, she would really be there to listen. Hari shattered their little bubble of intrinsic peace with a question.

"Where is Itachi? I couldn't find him back there."

Sasuke's hand retreated from Hari's automatically at the mention of his brothers name, her grip letting him go easy enough, though she followed his movement with a jagged frown. He took a step back, away from the light, retreating to the shadows. Old habits died hard. Hari's shoulders grew stiff at his dismissive voice.

"He is out, keeping watch likely."

She did not follow him back into the room, though she did turn to fully face him, the light at her back almost giving her a halo. Her head cocked to the side and Sasuke's gaze fled from her. He had spent years, near on his entire life, hating Itachi. Loathing him. Dreading him. Missing him in some sick sort of way. That insidious hatred, that vile anger, it was hard to turn off, even with the truth now out and fluttering in the open. When you spent so long feeding your anger, becoming the hatred, it was hard to see or be anything but. In short, Sasuke didn't know how to turn it off, what he would be if he did, or if it was even possible any more. Hari's voice grew thin and spiney.

"Likely? How long has he been out there?"

Sasuke wondered over to the fire-pit, lighting the fresh logs he placed within the circle with a small fire Jutsu, his own porcelain skin flashing red as the fire burst to life. Still, he refused to make eye contact with Hari. From the hazy, horrid flashes he had seen of Hari's life, she was incapable of hatred, at least, the kind of hatred Sasuke had nurtured inside of himself since a young boy. She would not understand, wouldn't be able to fathom such a feeling.

"Since our arrival here yesterday evening."

In a way, it was both a curse and a blessing. Hari loved deep and hard. It was shown by her, albeit reluctant, but quick acceptance of Itachi's and Sasuke's own past. Even those pathetic, rancid people she had been housed with, Petunia and Vernon, was it? She did not hate them for their actions. She felt pity, underlined with a sad sort of poignant understanding. That snake man came the closest to ringing hatred out of her, and yet, that was still dampened down with sharp regret and a dose of empathy. Sasuke had made hatred his life, wrapped it around his marrow and aching bones for safety, Hari had made love hers, and in so, it was hard for them to meet in the middle.

"And you didn't think to swap watch? To wake me up so I could relieve him? Or to bring him a cloak? Sasuke… It has been raining for most of the night."

Sasuke's reply was tart and biting. Berries picked before their time.

"I took watch from within the building. I thought it best he stayed outside."

 _Away from you and the possibility of me waking up to another slaughtered family member._ Sasuke pushed the voice back. He knew the truth now. He knew and yet, he still could not shake the images from his mind. His mother, father, clansmen's bodies strewn all over the compound, blood painting the white brick crimson, Itachi's eyes glowing in the dark. He had spent so long blaming him… How was he supposed to not do so anymore? He heard Hari sigh sadly.

"Honestly, Sasuke… I understand. I do. Trust is not given within hours, but to keep him outside in the rain? We cannot face Akatsuki, Orochimaru and Konoha while also facing each other. Aim that anger and hatred of yours at someone who deserves it, like Danzou. You will eventually have to give that trust over, or it will be the ruin of all of us and their victory."

Silenced rained down upon them and once again, with so much to say, Sasuke remained mute. He heard her sigh once more, swiveling back to the outside, beginning to stroll out of the door shoeless. Sasuke stood, voice hoarse and husky.

"Where are you going?"

She stopped in her tracks and he could see her fingers flex at her side, as if she was fighting to stop from clenching them into fists or to come back and hold his hand once more. By the tone of her voice, and when she turned her head to look at him from over her shoulder, he would guess it was the latter. There was no anger there, no indignation, just compassion, sorrow and a broken kind of conviction.

"To _our_ brother who is hurting and aching just as much as we are."

Then she walked away from him. Sasuke swore, kicking one of the logs out of the fire, watching avidly as it hit the wall and exploded into sparks of orange and ruby, lighting up the scratched and warn Uchiha fan painted on the walls surface. He wandered over to it, ghosting his hand along the faded and flaking paint. How long had he dreamt of his family? Whole, united, happy? Yet, their home was gone. Mother, father, dead and buried.

Still… Itachi and Hari were just outside that door, still there. None of them were whole any longer, none of them were happy, not even close, not yet… But there was a chance to be. Step by step. Day by day. It was time to turn his face from the past and to look at the future. It was a new day, a new age, a new dawn for the Uchiha. His hatred would not be the cloud to block that sunrise.

* * *

 **? P.O.V**

"Are you done wasting time? We have work to do."

The male in question stood up from his crouched position in the clearing, plucking up a long lock of hair that must have been cut free from a shuriken or kunai. Black. Curly. _Gotcha._ He took a gander around the clearing, taking in the state. Broken trees, scuffed grass, and the odd Kunai laying on the floor here and there. A fight took place here, as well as the clearing just through the pass of trees to his right. Two… No, three people here, another three in the clearing to his side. Strong, and yet the fight had not escalated to devastation… Interesting. It meant he still had time to catch up.

 _Perfect._

"You have fucking work to do. I have something else. Something important."

He wondered over to the patch of blood soaked dirt, a small impression of a body indented upon it. Tall, long limbed. It fit the description and the dreams plaguing his mind, sent to him by his god. _Find her, find her, find her, find her._ The voice pulsed in time with his heart beat, with the chug and flow of his blood. Oh, he liked blood. He liked it a lot. A body had fallen there, bled out well enough to cause death within seconds, and yet, by the trampled grass by where it's feet would have landed, it had gotten right back up and carried on the fight.

Halle-fucking-lujah to that. He was finally on the right track. He had been too late to the coastline where he found her washed up shitty ship. He had been too late to the base she had destroyed. He was too late for this little skirmish... But he would not miss his chance a fourth time. The bastard behind him piped up, forcing him to roll his neck in agitation. The crunch of bone did nothing to ease his tension.

"If I leave you to your own devices, you'll either destroy a village or end up dismantled and buried six feet under. That means more work for me and no pay out."

He ignored the unimpressed man, a shark-esque grin lighting up his face as he held the lock of hair up, watching it glint blue in the mid-morning sun. So, the dreams had been right after all. He should have known his god never would lead him astray. There really was another him running around, the other chosen favourite, the yang to his yin. The fucking bone to his blood. However, that also meant the clock was ticking. He better get a move on.

"Hide and seek is over little fucker, Hidan's coming for you..."

* * *

 **Hari's P.O.V**

She found Itachi perched underneath a towering oak tree, cross legged and reclining, a few feet into the dense woods that encapsulated the decaying building she had awoken in. No doubt, despite his relaxed stature, he was alert to his surroundings, given his gaze had lazily slid to her when she approached. She didn't say anything as she took a seat next to him, resting on a protruding gnarly root. A hello seemed redundant, good morning too bland and lacking and all the things she did want to say seemed too heavy and intense to lump upon him in greeting. So, the only noise between them for a long while was the song of wind rustling through branches, shaking off the nights raindrops as they spluttered and splattered to the forest floor.

"He does not trust me."

Hari bit her lip, a hint of copper dancing across the top of her tongue. What was she to say? Lie? She had never been a good liar, despite what her scared hand made people think. Furthermore, there had been enough lies and deceptions thrown upon them, Hari didn't want anymore darkening their doorstep. Especially in the crucial first days of… Whatever this is. In truth, Hari thought, none of them knew what to do or say. They were all stuck in a limbo.

Sasuke had spent most of his life trying to kill Itachi, making it his soul aim, his very being, leaving him hollow and goalless, his identity fractured when the truth came out. Itachi himself had spent a majority of his life playing the villain, hiding the truth and shrouding himself in misery and betrayal, that he had long forgotten how to simply be and not act… And Hari? Well, she had come for them, but she felt like a dog. A dog who would chase a car, excited, determined, energetic. Only, she had caught the car, found her brothers, and now that she had… She had no fucking idea on what to do afterwards. She had not thought that far ahead. She, in full honesty, had never really believed she would make it for the plan to count. How many times had she meant to of died? How many times was she surprised when she saw the next sunrise? Too many. Her plans had always been short term because that was all she had thought she deserved and owned, a short life.

But now… Now Sasuke would have to change his views, stop transforming his identity to his goal and learn to find himself without outside circumstances and stimuli effecting it. Itachi would have to cut the acting, stop playing the part others had written for him and begin to step out of the shadows that had previously offered him shelter and safety. And for the first time in her life, Hari would have to plan ahead of the next big battle or the next mountain she would inevitably have to climb. In short, they had to find themselves, their true selves, and that sort of self reflection was never an easy or quick task.

"Give it time. All this… Everything, it's a lot to take in. You're soaking, if you're not careful you'll get ill. Here."

Hari leaned over the short distance separating her and Itachi, placing a soft hand upon his shoulder, channelling her chakra out of her palm and through his clothes and skin in small, warm, lapping waves. It was good to see his skin, hair and clothes dry. It was even better to know she could convert spells into Jutsu's, even if they were only hot-air spells used for drying. Reluctantly, she pulled her hand away, letting it rest on her bent knee like its partner. Itachi cast a quick scan over himself, even going as far as to run a hand through his loose hair, noticing its lack of water rivulets running down and onto his shoulders and back.

"A trick from the U~Izaido?"

The heady scorn placed upon the name U~Izaido was not lost on Hari. She could only swallow in response. Did he see her as U~Izaido? Was that contempt partially levelled her way? Who knew. His face was back to carven marble, no emotion in sight. Still, she found herself trying to smile through the wince. By the twitching in her cheek from the forced smile and the frown pulling at the corners of Itachi's brows, she had failed miserably.

"They are an inventive race. Fred and George were brilliant at-."

She cut herself off. Fred… Fred was dead. She had been so busy, so focused on getting to her brothers after the war, the reality of it had never really hit. Fred was dead. Gone. No more pranks. No more bad jokes. He was… He was dead. Along with so many others. Dead. The feeling of Itachi's hand landing upon her own snapped her out just short of a panic attack.

"Yet, that is not the only thing you have picked up from them."

The pad of his thumb ran across the raised skin of scarred flesh streaking across her knuckles. _I must not tell lies…_ She jerked her hand away from his, nostrils flaring widely as she gulped in as much air as she could. The scorn, it wasn't aimed at her. It was aimed at them. Vernon, Petunia, Umbridge, Voldemort, Dumbledore… Nonetheless, it was too soon. The flesh may have scarred and knotted over, but the memories still felt to young, too volatile to poke and prod. Her voice was glacial.

"Do you wish to speak of your own scars? No? Then let's not delve into mine."

She regretted the biting retort as soon as it had left her mouth. Itachi's hand pulled away from her, his gaze casting low as he slid further away, retreating. Hari grimaced, eyes scrunching tight. How could she expect them to let their guards down and open up if she could not bring herself to do the same? She couldn't. She had no right. But still, the thought of bringing her memories into words somehow made those memories all the more real. And she was no where near ready for her demons to become blood and bone. She slid off her root perch, sliding into the little nook of the tree base besides Itachi, legs bent to her chest, arms cross over knees, her own thumb now stroking the scar that Itachi had brought light to.

"I'm… Sorry. I just-… I can't speak of… Not yet. Perhaps someday, just not today."

He gave her a small smile, all bird boned and fragile. He understood, even if her voice and words were just fractured shards of glass. Someday would come, until then, they, Hari especially, would take it day by day. She was good at that.

"We have many more days to cross those bridges."

Hari nodded at Itachi's statement. The reassurance that there would be many more days, like she hoped there would be, spoken by Itachi of all people, lit a little spark of fire within her chest cavity. It was all good speaking those words yourself, believing them, but to have someone else echo the sentiment, well, that was a warmth that was hard to describe.

"I am… Glad you got to see mother and father, at least once."

Itachi turned away from her as he spoke in a soft, lilting tone, staring out and into the great forest before them, mind somewhere else. He was talking of her trip to the land of the dead. She had not yet considered Itachi's feelings or reaction to the memory, in fact, she had hardly considered much since she had awoken next to Sasuke in a collapsing room.

It must have been a bittersweet discovery. To see through her eyes mother and father, proud and smiling, see the filled compound and know deep down, he had placed many of them there for the sake of Sasuke. Hari did not envy the life of Itachi, she supposed, like how he did not envy hers, for they were no strangers to hard choices and still both had ended firmly on the side of family.

"And I'm sorry you or Sasuke won't see them again. Not for a long while if I have a say in the matter."

Itachi gave a deep sigh, as if he was bone wearingly tired.

"We have a long fight ahead of us. No one will rest easy with the knowledge of our unification."

Hari gave a chuckle, deep and long. That would be an understatement. Someone in Konoha had colluded with the U~Izaido, kidnapping her and handing her over. Someone high up with a lot of pull. Of course, she doubted the reason was what she had been used for, to fight Voldemort, but she had her own suspicions. What was it the Dumbledore had said? Jealousies had torn the two races apart. Wizards wanted to know how they could preform what they did without wands, and the chakra users wanted to know about extended life spans, and, Hari would guess, there were things either side could do that the other couldn't. It wasn't a coincidence that it had been an Uchiha taken and used. The Sharingan took in all it saw, copied it, adapted it.

 _Her eyes had seen what the U~Izaido could do._

There, right there, the secrets of the U~Izaido was hidden within her eyes. The person who had handed her over to Dumbledore wanted that, planned for it. The person had never expected her to die over there, no, they wanted her to come back… Along with all the techniques her eyes had picked up. Somewhere, in Konoha, was a person waiting for her arrival, ready to take her fucking eyes. Not only that, Danzou was lurking there, unquestionably angered when he learns of their alliance and Itachi's and Sasuke's defection from Otogakure and Akatsuki… Danzou… Could the two be one of the same? The coup and her kidnapping… Fuck. There were still too many unanswered questions to fully form a hypothesis. The only solid thing Hari could land in on the matter of Konoha was Danzou's death. He needed to die. No questions asked. For what he had done to their family, to Sasuke, to Itachi… He would bleed his payment.

Orochimaru would be pissed, his vessel that he had been training had broken from his leash. He didn't seem the type of man to put that much effort in and submit without a pay-out. He would come for Sasuke and he would bring all his horrors with him. And for those horrors, for what he had done to innocent people, to her brother, he too would need to die.

Whatever this Akatsuki was planning, Itachi knew of it and therefore became a liability they couldn't let wander off. Not while he could still talk. They too would come… There was no lack in adversaries here, Hari knew. They had their work cut out for them and Hari didn't think, even if she asked nicely, if they would simply come at them one at a time. Still, this wasn't the first insurmountable odds Hari had faced, neither Itachi or Sasuke, and if they truly wanted peace, to build a new home, to live the rest of their lives, they would have to fight through it. Freedom, funny enough, wasn't often free.

"Sasuke's too stubborn to die, you're too contrary and I'm a scrappy thing. We'll make it through. We have to."

He did not reply to her, he only reached into his trouser pocket, seized something from its depths and held it out to her. Wearily, she held her hand out and accepted the item.

"Here."

It was only as it was deposited into her own hand, with the sun shining on its patchy paint that she recognized what it was. The wooden and glass dragonfly toy Itachi used to make dance above her crib. It was a lot smaller than she remembered, her age and size diminishing its grand presence. It also had an addition. A little hole drilled into its head, a cord threaded through, transforming the little toy into a necklace. One of it's wings was broken, just a shard of stained glass protruding from the wooden body. Its paint was old, the pearlescent blues and greens warn and gone completely in places, cherry wood peeking out in patches along its thin, bumpy body.

Her fingers tightened around it, her palm threatening to bleed from the broken wing, but it only made her grip onto it harder. It wasn't just a toy. Not to her. It was childish innocence. A past she had snatched from her, from them. It was dreams and hopes she had thought long dead. Her voice choked out the tears her eyes denied from falling. It showed that Itachi had not forgotten her, which is what she had feared when she first stumbled across him in that field. Not for a moment if he kept it on him.

"You kept it? After all this time?"

It must have been one of the few things he had taken with him when he left the compound all those years ago, after… After what he had done. In his darkest moment, he had spared a thought for her. That… That touched something profound and fervent.

"It was not mine to throw away. I had always hoped you would come back for it."

Hope… That's it. That's what this little broken toy represented. Hope in all its glory. Hope for Hari. Hope for Itachi. Hope for Sasuke. Hope for all of them. Personified into wood and glass and chipped paint. Hari forced herself to unfurl her fingers, to stare dead on at the toy, to take it in as much as she could.

"It's broken, it's wing is missing."

Itachi tentatively took it from her slack grip, widening the cord out, keeping it dangling between them. Hari ducked her head, allowing him to slide it along and place it around her neck. It felt so heavy on her chest, but it was a good sort of weight. When she looked up, the fragile smile was back, but it was stronger then before.

"Broken it may be, but it is still good."

Hari chuckled, pulling her hair free from underneath the cord so the necklace could sit straight and true. Her voice wavered in the air, highs and lows shaking with barely held back emotion, despite her trying to make light of the situation.

"Just like us, aye?"

It came out less of a joke and more of an honest question, Hari's own insecurities and worries haunting the edges of her smile. _Could there really be a happy ending to their story?_ Itachi nodded, reached over hesitantly, as if expecting her to flinch away, before he pulled the last lock of hair free from underneath the cord. He did not let go of the curl, rather running it between his thumb and forefinger. Just before he spoke, he used his free hand to come up and flick her gently on the nose.

"Just like us."

Hari's nose scrunched on reflex before she laughed. An authentic, rustic laugh. She tried to do the same to him, but as her finger got close, he ducked out of the way, and she swore, underneath the sound of the wind and rustling leaves, she heard him laugh too. Muted, quite, but still there. Before Hari could give it a second go, determined to get that bloody nose and a louder laugh, there was the sound of shuffling feet and a distinct cough coming from just to their side.

They both stalled, smiles dropping as they swiveled to face the new arrival. Sasuke stood there, shadow stretching long and dark. In his hands were three bowls, steaming and bubbling. He cautiously made his way over, coming to a stop in front of them, before sitting down and to Hari's surprise, he held the first bowl out to Itachi.

The message was clear. All was not well, real life did not work that way. Problems, especially ones buried so deep within yourself, did not fix themselves over night. They would still have their issues, personal and external, but at least Sasuke was now willing to try to forge the bridge over troubled waters. They all were. That's what counted. Itachi offered Sasuke a smile, full of understanding, as he gently took the offered meal. Hari too smiled, hers simply full of teeth and dimples, as she took her bowl next.

Too caught up in the peaceful morning moment, Hari did not look down at her bowl and food as she scooped some out blindly and took a bite. Instant regret hit her hard. Looking down, there was no wondering why. Whatever it was, was lumpy, half boiling hot, lumps freezing cold with charred flecks of… Something black sprinkled through. Her face scrunched and her throat refused to swallow as the food began to tingle her tongue. As politely as she could, she turned her head and spat the concoction straight out, head shaking back and forth as she tried to fight down the bile threatening to rise.

"I can't do it. This is bloody awful soup! It tastes like burnt woodchips slathered in paprika algae."

She locked gazes with Sasuke, face still shuddering in disgust. Sasuke, however, was blank as he blinked once, twice, a third. His voice was just as deadpanned as his face.

"It's oatmeal…"

That… That was oatmeal?! Glancing over to Itachi from the corner of her eye, she saw he too was having trouble swallowing, but he refused to spit it out like she had. Fair enough. He had a stronger will then she did. Hari tried to smile placatingly, it was a nice gesture after all, as she gently took Sasuke's bowl from his slack hands, not trusting that he wouldn't eat it himself and get food poisoning.

"I'll go cook us up some actual breakfast that won't leave us bedridden for the next few weeks."

Discretely, while Sasuke was focused on Hari, Itachi spat his own mouthful out, handing his own bowl over to Hari when she offered to take it. Sasuke caught the action and scowled, crossing his arms over his broad chest as he aimed his ire at Itachi.

"You too?"

Yet, underneath the scowl and imperious set of lips and upturned nose, Hari could sniff a hint of mischievousness. The big bastard knew he couldn't fucking cook and had turned the tables on them. That was why he had not taken a bite when Itachi and Hari had. He was… Sasuke was joking with them. The lightness of the situation lessened the blow of being victim to the food. Hari chuckled as she began to walk back to the hideout, Itachi standing to follow, Sasuke bringing up the rear.

"Ground rule number one; Sasuke doesn't cook. It's just a horror show."

* * *

 **Kakashi's P.O.V**

"He left… Sasuke willingly left with Hari and Itachi?"

Kakashi stood tall next to a silent Sakura, the tale of their confrontation hanging heavy in the air.

"Correct Hokage."

His voice was placid, tepid, even if there was a whirlwind storming inside of him. None of it made sense. Of course, he had missed half of the confrontation between the Uchiha's with his own showdown with Kisame, but with Sakura's own recount and a quick recon of the fields after Kisame had retreated left but one conclusion. Sasuke had come. A little fight had broken out, nothing major, another oddity seen as it was between Itachi and Sasuke, and for some Kami forsaken reason, Sasuke had left with Itachi and Hari Uchiha.

Not only that, but according to his only student left, Hari Uchiha contained the ability to… To fucking resurrect herself. According to Sakura, the youngest Uchiha had a hole blown into her chest, laid dead for a good few minutes, and yet clambered back up with not a single scratch and even more Chakra than what she had gone down housing. This… This was a fucking shit show. Tsunade slowly rose from behind her desk, wondering over to the large bay windows of the Hokage office, hands clasped behind her back.

"Sakura, you are dismissed."

"Shishyou…"

"Dismissed."

Sakura's head hung as she swiveled on her feet and marched out of the door, casting one last glance backwards before she shut the door. It didn't take long for the silence to be filled. However, it seemed more like Tsunade was talking to herself rather then him.

"I've always had my suspicions, but this…"

Kakashi's head cocked to the side a fraction, frown prominent underneath his mask and forehead protector.

"I do not believe I am following."

Tsunade still refused to face him, keeping her back to his gaze and looking upon the sprawling lands of Konoha. Kakashi had never heard Tsunade's voice so small and lost before.

"If Itachi worked alone that night, if the massacre was how it was depicted by the elders… Sasuke, after all he's been through, would never willingly align himself with Itachi. Resurrected twin or not."

Kakashi crookedly shook his head.

"I cannot lie, the same thought has crossed my mind. But, as it is evident Sasuke has aligned himself with Itachi, and I doubt he's defected to Akatsuki, which means Itachi has defected from Akatsuki, then…"

Slowly, the train of thought began to piece itself together bit by bit, trepidation nipping on the lining of his gut and bowels. Tsunade turned to face him then, a wretched little smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

"Then the story of the Uchiha massacre is not what we've been sold."

Many people underestimated Tsunade… A grave mistake people didn't often make twice, and if they did, they did not live to make it a third. She had lived through multiple wars, climbed the ladder to become Hokage without flashing her Senju ties to expediate the rise and had an uncanny knack of seeing things others missed. She was simply just not as flashy as her counterparts, Orochimaru and Jiraiya, and that lead to her being mistakenly labelled at the weakest of the trio. Yet again, a mistake one did not make three times.

"Furthermore, I have a sneaking feeling that Hari Uchiha's own abduction, the following lack of investigation and retrieval, was instigated by the same person. Which means this person has the pull to preform a coup on a fifth of Konoha's populace, abduct children and sell them to alien races for reasons not yet known and still keep the standing that allowed them to act in such a way without suspicion being thrown upon them. Plus, when news leaks from my office, which it will inevitably do, I do not believe this person will take the news of a united Uchiha front well…"

When Kakashi had first wandered into the Hokage's office, Sakura picking up his trail, he had not thought the focus of the topic would be happenstances long past. In truth, he had been more focused with the ability to escape death that this Hari Uchiha seemed to wield. Yet, now that Tsunade was, seemingly in full game mode, threading a picture that was hard to look upon, the trepidation turned to full blown dread. No longer was his voice placid.

"So, we are trapped. If this person has that pull, any kind of inkling that we're onto them will lead to unfortunate accidents for all of us. Additionally, any move to aid or begin talks between us and the Uchiha to try and glean any knowledge will be stalled, if not out rightly slaughtered."

Tsunade pulled away from the window, stepping back into the shadows of the room, eyes hooded but rebelliously sharp.

"Whoever this person is, they have backing. Strong rank. Resources that are only meant to be accessible to the Hokage and a plan we, as of yet, can not fully conceptualize."

Kakashi didn't miss a beat.

"In short, Konoha is not safe for the Uchiha, perhaps not even safe for us now that we have found the breadcrumbs this person has left behind."

The smoke of revolution and resolution bloomed in the shine of her eyes, refracting all light out like her irises were crystal prisms.

"No… No it's not. But neither will we stand idle."

She strolled to her desk, lifting files here and there, skimming through before discarding the magnolia folders into a hazardous, tilting pile. She had a plan and Kakashi wasn't a hundred percent sure he was going to like it. Not one bit. It already sounded like it would take too much effort and he had a new icha icha paradise book to get through. Why did he become a shinobi again? When was his retirement years available to him?

"I need you to intersect Naruto and Jiraiya before they re-enter Konoha. With them, I need you to find the Uchiha. Speak with them, uncover the truth, offer what little aid we can. Do not return to Konoha. In two months time, I will be leaving on a diplomatic summit with Suna's Kazekage. Once I am out of Konoha boarders, rendezvous with me there and share what you have learnt."

Kakashi spluttered, rubbing the back of his head dazedly.

"When this person learns of a united Uchiha front, they will wish to act. I will not be surprised if nothing short of war is declared."

Tsunade hurled him a look that could only be interpreted as 'no shit'.

"That is where I come in. Obviously, I do not know who I can and who I cannot trust here, and this person has resources and enough status and rank to stir up enough fear within our government to follow along with whatever move they will make next, even without the Hokage's blessing… But I can stall this for as long as I am able to. Long enough for you to find the truth and for us to weasel out a few of those we can trust. Long enough for us to formulate a plan that will, hopefully, align with whatever the Uchiha are plotting."

What she was asking from him finally solidified in his mind. If the news spread to this person while he was out of Konoha doing the Hokage's work, she would not be able to vouch for him if she wanted to keep her own cover and to expose the perpetrator. If this person's spies were as far stretched as Tsunade was hinting at, then they would soon learn Kakashi was in contact with the Uchiha…

"If I leave and this person hears of my venture towards the Uchiha… I will be branded a traitor…"

The fire in her eyes died as she levelled them at him, a sad grimace quaking the planes of her face.

"Our forefathers failed the Uchiha before, I do not wish to make the same mistake they did. If I am correct and the coup of the Uchiha was instigated by an outside force, we are liable for the death of a clan. I do not know about you, but I do not want the remaining survivors of that clans blood upon my hands because I refused to correct course. Even so, our government is being moved like a puppet by a person who sees no trouble with culling a section of our people off. Who's next? The Hyuuga? The Nara? Us? Even if not for the Uchiha, we need to stop this for our own people and their wellbeing."

Kakashi's eyes slid shut.

"You're using the tragedy of the Uchiha to uproot the corruption in our government. This has nothing to do with them…"

Tsunade shrugged.

"Even if I am, everybody wins."

Kakashi had an urgent need to scrub a hand down his face, a pounding headache setting up shop at his temples.

"Not many will side with you, or the Uchiha. They, Itachi and Sasuke's legacy alone will not win favours. Hari's time with the U~Izaido will cast suspicion. Not many have forgotten the destruction of the Nine-tails commanded by the Uchiha. The hate runs deep…"

Realisation hit and Kakashi's voice trailed off into the air.

"Hari's abduction, the attack by the Nine-tails, the massacre… They are too close to be a coincidence."

Tsunade appeared to have found the dossier she had been searching for, as she sat and slowly began to pick her way through it.

"Even if it was two people or more, they were working together and one of them is still within our lands. The power to exert control over a jinchuriki, to hand our people off like cattle and to perform a mass murder without repercussion is as much a threat today as it was back then. Do you see why we need to act now?"

She found something within the folder, plucking out the piece of paper and eyeing it wearily before she hastily folded it and slinked it into the folds of her kimono top. Safe. Hidden. Secret.

"That is why you do not wish for me to bring Naruto back, why I must intercept them before they reach our gate… He's in danger too… I will rest for the evening and leave when the moon hits its peak."

The folder was tossed back onto the desk and Tsunade leant her elbows onto the table, stipling her fingers as she rested her chin on top. With the window and sun at her back, it was hard to see the gleam in her eyes but Kakashi knew it was there just as much as he knew they were walking a treacherous path.

"Be safe Kakashi… We, as of now, are a village in silent civil war."

* * *

 **NEXT CHAPTER PREVIEW:**

 **~X~**

Hari stood tall next to the gargantuan man, sly smirk flowering on her face.

"Kisame was just telling me that some of the Akatsuki members might be… Convinced to see things from our point of view."

 **~X~**

Kisame sighed deeply, scratching at his cheek as he mentally ran through the members that would cause less trouble if contacted.

"Deidara may hate Uchiha's with a burning passion, but he loathes his forced servitude more. Sasori's… Artistic work will be a problem, but I'm sure we can come to a middle ground. Kakazu is only in it for the coin, Kami knows where Hidan will fall but it will be worth the effort and Tobi-"

Itachi cut him off sharply, all eyes turning to gaze at the normally stoic man.

"No. Not Tobi. Never Tobi."

 **~X~**

Hari huffed, scowling hotly at Kisame and Itachi.

"No. We offer our help either way. We do not bargain the freedom of their countrymen, their families against our own. We ask them, they can decline if they so wish to. Just like the offers we're giving the Akatsuki. Either way, I will help free the rest captured."

Itachi gave her a bleak smile, voice placating.

"It is not our fight."

"It is."

Everyone turned to face Sasuke, who had fallen silent up until that point.

"I helped Orochimaru chain these people. If not Hari's fight, this is my own. I need to fix my mistakes."

Hari sidled up to him, placing her hand on his shoulder, sending him a blinding smile that even Itachi, across from them, could feel the heat of.

"No. We fix them together. That's how family works. That's how _we_ work."

 **~X~**

Itachi nodded.

"I know the Akatsuki members, my face will do well in convincing them. I also have knowledge of Konoha's attack tactics and how they work in battle. Sasuke, from the rumours I have heard, has garnered great respect from Orochimaru's underlings, and could help sway some of them to our side. He also has a few stout believers of him left in Konoha, a few ears that would be willing to listen to him and the truth of the coup. Hari's hope and fiery spark for rebellion and revolution is infectious, she is also adapt at preforming underground movements from her time with the U~Izaido. Word of her freeing the base has spread far, she will do well in inspiring the civilians and captured to stand up to Otogakure and Orochimaru, as well as gluing them all together under a common cause… It is risky… But if the wind is right, we might just be able to pull it off."

Kisame's indignation rang out.

"I had hope… But she's as insane as you two. A village? You're really planning on forming a village?! Of not just rallying an insurgence against Akatsuki, but against Konoha and Otogakure too? While we're at it, why don't we just scrap Otogakure and build the village right here!... Wait... That's what you're planning isn't it?... I'm getting to old for this Uchiha shit."

 **~X~**

Harry looked up as the dust settled, Itachi's stiff form splayed over her own as he had threw them both out of the aim of fire. There, embedded into the wall of their hideout was a three sided scythe. From the door way, a shadow loomed with laughter.

"Peek-a-boo bitches!"

* * *

 **A.N:** Surprise!I'm not dead and neither is this fic! I know, it's been eight months and that's a bloody awful amount of time to leave between updates, but life really has been battering me lately, and you know what they say, better late then never! That being said, things are becoming easier with my epilepsy and school and I'm hopefully getting back on track. I just hope some of you have stuck it out and can forgive me XD.

Once again, I've had to chop this chapter in two as it reached a whopping 18k word count, and as so, the other half of this chapter is nearly ready to go, so there definitely won't be such a long wait between this one and next. I just have to comb through it and tighten some knots here and there, but at the very latest, it will be out next Sunday and that is a guarantee!

I'm also taking a slower projection with this fic. Don't get me wrong, as you can likely tell, there will be a lot of things going down, but I really want to intersplice that with little moments that humanize and bond the Uchiha together, as well as other characters that are coming into play (You can all likely tell who). So while there will be bombs raining down (so to speak), there will be little pieces of sunshine too.

 **Normally** I would answer questions in this part, but a lot of the questions raised have been ones that will ruin what's coming up, so I have to keep mute this time. Just know that I'm not ignoring you (I really do read each review) I just don't won't to spoil the ride.

 _ **AS ALWAYS I ADORE YOU ALL,**_ really, each review, follow and favourite keeps this fic going and my mad mind taking turns. When I first started writing this, I really did have no clue of the response it would gain, and yet it really does warm my little author heart that people enjoy this insanity. They also make me want to be a better writer, to push myself out of my comfort zone and explore different techniques, and really, all this is thanks to you guys. So thank you, really. Once again, sorry for the long wait, but I will try not to repeat it.

 _if you have a moment, drop a **review!**_ and I really hope you liked this chapter, despite it being eight months in the making XD. Until next time, stay beautiful! ~AlwaysEatTheRude21


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